Down To Earth
by TheReflectorMage
Summary: After running away from her previous guild, and now a part of Lamia Scale, Ciella Redfox looks to the day she can face her brother, Gajeel, again. As the earth Dragon Slayer, she was taken under the mentorship of the Wizard Saint, Jura Neekis, and hopes to become stronger in order to make her brother proud. (Sorry, I suck at summaries)
1. Chapter 1

There's a feeling you get, that when you're disappointed, you seem detached from everyone. The disappointment inside, causes you to distance yourself from others, as you feel you've let them down, and that you're the cause of their disappointment in you. You feel as though you can't look anyone close to you in the eye. You feel that you aren't strong enough. You feel as though you can't face them.

That's the exact way that Ciella Redfox felt. All her life, she's felt disappointed. Ever since she was young. Ever since she could remember, her childhood was spent with only her brother and adoptive father. He was strict on them, trained them hard. He may have seemed selfish, but he only wanted to protect the precious younglings he had grown to care for. But he was no ordinary human. No, he was a dragon. An Iron Dragon to be specific.

One of his children, the eldest, he latched onto the Iron Dragon Slaying Magic he taught so easily. But there was problems with Ciella, she had found it hard to learn the Magic, in fact, she found it impossible. Unlike her brother, she could not produce even a single iron dragon club or sword. That was the start of her disappointment. She couldn't live up to her fathers expectations.

Then the next disappointment came. Being detached from society, the siblings found it hard to even overcome simple illnesses. Ciella became seriously ill, and without any form of medical help for miles around, they feared that she may die. Her brother, Gejeel, not wishing to lose his sister, pleaded their father Metalicana to help her in any way possible. Luckily, he had something very powerful that could help the young girl, who was only seven at the time.

A dragon Lacrima. Given to him by an old friend, the spherical object was filled Magic energy that could help Ciella recover. The fact as well that the Lacrima had once belonged to a powerful earth dragon, it would also give the girl the powers of an Earth Dragon Slayer.

Even so, when the Lacrima was implanted in her body, a problem occurred. Once she had recovered fully, Ciella found that she could not fully harness and control the Magic energy the Lacrima gave her. So once again she was disappointed that she could not live up to the expectations, or he brothers standard.

The disappointment only grew, as two years later on the day of July the 7th, X777, Metalicana, the dragon that had taken the years to raise them, had suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. They had woken up on that day, confused and startled to find their dragon missing. They searched, but they could not find him. Both the siblings felt abandoned, but Gajeel was quick to move on, not giving any second thought to the dragon who he had deemed as selfish for leaving them. His only focus now was protecting his nine year old sister, when he was only twelve years old himself.

Shortly after their abandonment as they had seen it, they joined a guild by the name of Phantom Lord.

But Ciella still had disappointment following her like a shadow. For four years she had spent at Phantom Lord, she had been trained by Sol of the element four. But yet, her training was still getting nowhere. Her Magic was still unpredictable, and unwilling to work with her. Her supposed mentor wasn't making it any better. His stupid French accent made him irritating, and she found with every year that passed that she was very impatient. Even when her brother still tried to encourage her, nothing ever worked. She felt as though she couldn't look him in the eye, and couldn't help but think that she had let him down. She could never live up to his standard.

She became so detached from those around her, that she felt as if she was floating away from them. Nothing could keep her grounded.

Which is why, in the year X781, when she was thirteen years old, she decided that she must take matters into her own hands. If she is to ever become as her brother, she came to the conclusion that she must go down her own path in order to find a way to come into control of herself.

Authors Note

Hey guys, so here's the first part of "Down To Earth". Here's just a few things that I've decided to set in order for this story to work out.

\- I've decided to set Gajeels age from the Phantom Lord Arc to be 19, and Ciella is 16.

\- I do know about Gajeels real age, so please don't comment anything about that with what I've said, as it might give people who haven't got any info about the manga or haven't read the manga spoilers.

\- If I do make any mistakes and there are some wrong facts about this series, then please let me know and I'll fix them to be more accurate to the original storyline.

\- I may end up making a few changes to what happens canonically, as I might find that it will fir with my OC's story. So if I make any changes to the original plot, then that's why.

\- I'll be following the plot line of the anime, and I'll also be using the dub version.

Thanks guys, and hope you'll enjoy reading this story, and I'll try and make it as accurate as possible.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. All rights go to Hiro Mashima. I only own Ciella and some of the plot line that I've come up with.

It was hard for her to do, but she knew she had to. Training and living at Phantom Lord wasn't helping her control or harness her magical energy. She had to set out on her own, to find her own path.

As she crept past, shouldering the large, heavy backpack, she stopped briefly outside the front of her brothers room and looked at the bare door. It would be hard to leave him behind, but if she wants to make him proud, she has to. It's the only way for her to get stronger.

I'm sorry, Gajeel, she thought to herself, before continuing on her way. Nothing stopped her as she stepped outside into the cool night air, and head on her way out of town. Oak Town, her home for the past couple of years. No, not her home, she's never felt at home here. Home was back then, before Metalicana disappeared. When it was just her, Gajeel, and their foster father.

She refused to let the memories resurface, if she did that, it would be even harder to leave him behind. The key was to not look back, keep moving forward. Step after step. As she made her way further out of the quiet town, she pulled the hood of her worn brown jacket, hiding her face from the world around her.

After long agonising minutes of walking, she came to the edge of the town, near the forest. Before entering the think of the trees, she took one last glance at the Guild Hall at the top of the hill. No good memories came from that place. She was always miserable, and it was about time she left to find her own path, to become stronger.

In her mind, she knew that she would see Gajeel again one day. But until then, she would continue to build up her strength, so she could make him proud the next time their paths crossed. So with that thought, she turned her back on the town, and trudged past the tree line, into the dark shadows. Once she came to a certain spot however, she stopped in her tracks.

"Iwa? Are you still there?" She called out quietly into the surroundings. This was the spot where I told her to wait, she should be around here, she thought to herself worriedly, unable to find her friend.

A rustling came from behind her, but she knew the presence as soon as she caught her scent.

"There you are." She said, turning to see the light cream coloured cat behind her, the brown stripes on her face and the end of her tail looking black in the night.

Iwa, she was an exceed, a cat like creature that Ciella found wondering in the woods after she came to Phantom Lord. The small creature was frightened, but Ciella instantly took a liking to her, and looked after. She had kept her friend a secret though, as she thought her brother wouldn't allow her to have something as trivial as a cat, despite the fact that said cat could talk as well as fly using a magic called Aera. Even if she could persuade her brother to let her keep Iwa, she instantly doubted that Master Jose would give his approval. He would only see her as a distraction.

So Ciella made her newfound friend a small nest-like home in the woods, and would regularly sneak out to come and check up on her, give her food that would last her a while, and play with her. After all, Iwa ended up becoming her only real friend, apart from Juvia who she got along with surprisingly.

"Ciella! You're back," The exceed cried happily, running towards Ciella, te girl kneeling down to meet her as the ball of fur jumped into her arms. "Why'd you take so long? I got scared when it got dark and you didn't come."

"I'm sorry, I had to wait for Gajeel to fall asleep before I could sneak out." She apologised to her little friend.

"Are you sure you want to do this Ciel? I mean, you are leaving your only family behind." Iwa looked up to see her human friend give a sad look, but she only sighed and looked into her eyes, chocolate brown meeting dark red.

"I know I'm leaving him behind, but I'm only holding him back by being a burden to him. That's why I've got to do this." She closed her eyes for a moment, "and I know it's no good leaving him in that place, but I know someday he'll realise that Phantom isn't good for him, and he'll find his own path to happiness to follow."

Opening her eyes, Ciella looked up to the dark sky, reminiscing all the good times she spent with her brother, both of them growing up together with Metalicana.

"Maybe then, I'll see him again. But until then, I must follow my own path. Become stronger, so I can finally make him proud, instead of being a disappointment."

From there, she stood up, the dirt from the ground sticking to her leggings, and held her exceed close to her stomach.

"Come on, we should get going. If we stay here longer, the easier it would be for Gajeel to track my scent. We need to get far away, so he can't find us."

"Alright Ciel. Just so you know, I'll always be with you." Iwa placed one of her furry paws on Ciellas arm.

"Thank you Iwa. Now, let's go have our own adventure. Just like we used to talk about."

The sixteen year old male woke up groggily, limps splayed across the bed, messed up covers wrapped around them. His red eyes blinked, startled by the sunlight that peeked through the gap in the curtain. Great, his sister slept in again no doubt. Sol will be annoyed that she's late for training again. Then again, he wasn't much better himself.

Sighing, he got out of bed and quickly got dressed, before heading to the door of his sisters room, knocking quickly.

"Oi, Ciel. You up?" He called through the door, but received no answer.

"Oi, sis. Get up. Sol'll be pissed if you're late again." Yet again, no answer.

Gajeel sighed in exasperation before grabbing the handle and roughly shoving the door open. Only his eyes widened at the sight before him. The bed was made neatly. Everything seemed in place. Apart from two facts. His sister wasn't there. And the possessions she usually had lying around the place, they were all gone.

"Ciel? Ciel?! Urgh, where could that girl be."

Then, his eyes landed on the envelope that lay in the centre of the bed. Without a thought, he quickly strode over, picking the envelope up and ripping it open, unfolding and reading the letter inside. As he got further into reading what was written, his eyes continued on widening in shock, mouth falling open in denial.

No, she couldn't be gone. She wouldn't leave like this would she? He knew Master Jose, Sol and the rest of the Element 4 were hard on her. But what about him. Did she really leave him behind to. Her own brother who had always been there for her. He didn't care about the fact that she struggled with her magic. He didn't care about the fact that she may not have been physically strong. All he cared about was her, and protecting his sister as he had done so for years.

On instinct, he ran out of the room, dropping the letter in the process, a letter that read this:

Dear Gajeel,

This is hard to say. I've thought over in my head many different ways of telling you, of explaining the reason why, and none of them have seemed right. But I know I have to say it.

I'm sorry, but I'm leaving. I'm leaving Phantom Lord. I'm leaving Oak Town. And I'm really sorry, but I know that I'm also leaving you behind to. But I'm not leaving the memories behind. I'll always have them with me. And I know that I'll see you again one day.

But I have to take my own path. Apart from being with you, my life at Phantom Lord has been miserable to me. So I'm making my own life for myself. I know you like being a part of this guild, that you feel strong here. That's why I didn't say anything. I didn't want to take that away from you. But I know that you'll also find the real meaning in you life one day, and maybe then, we'll come together again.

But until that day, I'm going out alone, to find my own strength. To find a way to control my magic. So I can no longer be a disappointment to you and the guild. From now on, I will no longer be your burden. Don't look for me, by the time you read this letter, I'll be far away from Oak Town.

But I've left behind something, look in the drawer next to my bed. I've just left you something to hold onto. I hope you like it.

Anyway, I suppose that this is goodbye. Thank you, for everything brother. I love you.

Love Ciella.

P.S. Please tell Juvia thank you for being their for me. And also, please tell Totomaru that I've always thought he was an asshole. Just thought that he should know. Thanks.

The letter wouldn't stop him, he would go after her anyway. She was his sister. There was only one way she would go. Out into the forest. If he was fast enough, he should be able to catch her scent. But no matter how far, or how fast he went, the scent he was so familiar with wasn't there. It was long gone to the wind. There was no way of tracking her now. The ground was dry, so no footprints were left behind.

She was gone, and there was nothing that he could do about it.

He had searched all day. But nothing came up. No sign of her. No lead. Everything was explained to master Jose. He talked to Juvia, who was saddened at the fact that her friend was gone.

Now, after all that, he was back in the room which he had left untouched. The letter in his hand, red eyes reading it over, understanding everything his sister was saying. He could practically feel the hesitation in her hand when she write this, unsure of what to say to him. What to leave behind.

That's when his eyes read over that part of the letter, finally seeing what she said.

But I've left behind something, look in the drawer next to my bed. I've just left you something to hold onto. I hope you like it.

What could she possibly have left behind? He supposed he better find out. His hand hesitated as he reached towards the drawer handle, but finally taking a breath and pulling it open.

Carefully placed inside the practically empty drawer, a sliver chain, with a dragons head pendant attached to it. The intricate design was beautiful, but Gajeel gasped when he turned it and saw what was written on the back.

G - C

Redfox Siblings

I love you brother

His eyes watered, but he refused to let himself cry. He needed to be strong. She was out there, and he would find her again. Or day, he would see his sister again.

Sadly smiling, he clasped the chain around his neck.

It took a few days, but Gajeel was back to his usual self. His sister was still in his heart, but he read the letter over and over again and understood.

He had seen the signs, but he never acknowledged them. But the fact remains that he should have seen that she was miserable. It was now that he knew, now that he'd remembered everything he had seen. The looks on her face at Sol's criticism, at Master Jose's lectures on her not being strong enough. And so it was then that he had understood that this would be good for her. That she would be able to set out on her own path to find her own life instead of being ruled by those that thought they were above her. He just had to keep on hoping that he would see her again one day, and he would look forward to that day.

A smile was brought into his face as he thought about this. He also let out his unique laugh at remembering the look on Totomaru's face when he passed along her message.

A few months had passed since she had left. Most of the time was spent travelling from place to place with Iwa with her to keep her company. Sometimes she stayed in places for a bit longer than she did others, so she could carry out small jobs around the town she was in to earn some money for food and necessities they needed to keep going.

She would also try to keep up with training, every time they stayed somewhere. They'd always camp out in the forest outside the towns, so she could have enough space. But although her strength was still continuing to grow physically, the magic department was still lacking. It was still unpredictable. Whenever she would just be walking and subconsciously thinking, especially if she was feeling a particular emotion strongly, suddenly cracks would appear in the ground near her, or rocks around her would crumble.

But when it came to using it at will, she could not even manipulate a small rock, or a single crumb of dirt. She was supposed to be a dragon slayer, yet, it seems she wasn't meant to. Maybe the Lacrima only had enough power to save her life, and give her strong magic energy that she could use at will.

But it shouldn't be that way, Ciella had always thought to herself. A dragon Lacrima was supposed to be intensely powerful, it was meant to have a great amount of Magic energy. So how she couldn't harness the Magic energy inside her confused her greatly.

What Ciella had yet to learn though, was that earth was the most stubborn element. And as stubborn as she was, her mind wasn't grounded. She was so detached from the world that her thoughts seemed to float away in the wind.

However, what was to come, would change her life forever. For she never knew, that she would meet someone who could help her. Someone who would help her become grounded to the earth once more. That person would be the key to her unlocking the hidden magical strength she had inside her.

It seemed as though it was fate, that she would meet this person by chance, someone she never thought that she would ever have the honour of meeting ever in her life.


	3. Chapter 3

"Why can't I get this stupid rock to move." Ciella shouted in exasperation, shoving her hands against the boulder in question and she yet again failed to gain any control over it.

"Are you sure you're focusing entirely on the rock. And also, if you don't watch out, that boulder may end up breaking you instead." Iwa commented from the tree branch she was settled in. She watched as her friend turned and leaned against the boulder behind her, glaring up at the relaxed cat.

"You're seriously making sarcastic comments at a time like this?"

"Oh Ciel, it's like you don't know me at all." The exceed replied back, and the two stared each other down, before bursting into laughter.

"Oh Iwa, you always know how to cheer me up." Ciella said after she had calmed down and stopped laughing, "thanks for sticking with me this whole time. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Most likely wallow in your self pity and have a lack of motivation."

The girl once again let out a small chuckle.

"That comment was slightly unnecessary, but true." Turning back to face the boulder, a look of determination came over her face once more, "Alright, time to try this again. Come on boulder, just this once, please just crack for me."

"Why don't you just try the techniques your dragon taught you?"

At this, Ciella sighed, "It's not that simple. I need to have the earth on my side. If it can't even manipulate it on simple terms, how am I ever going to be able to use the earth in combat techniques?"

"I see, you have a point there."

Focusing all her energy, she stared the rock down, willing it to crack under the pressure of her gaze. She was staring at the rock for a good couple of minutes, her face becoming strained as the rock refused to even give a shudder.

"Are you quite alright? You've been staring at that rock for a while." A deep voice came from behind her.

Jumping round in fright, the only sound that reached her ears was that of a loud crack. But ignoring that, she stared at the man who had seemingly appeared from out of nowhere.

He was extremely tall and muscular. A serious expression was on his face, making his dark eyes seem scarier to her. He was bald, and wore what seemed to be traditional, but foreign clothing. To say the least, the man sacred her. But what scared her most was the fact that in her fright, the rock she had been staring intently at was completely obliterated into dust when she looked back behind her.

"You practice earth Magic?" He whispered in surprise, seeing the destroyed rock.

"Ciella, stay back." Iwa called out, as she floated in front of her friend, her pure white wings spread out in a protective stance. The strange mans eyes widened even further at the sight of the talking and flying cat. But then they narrowed, as if observing her.

"Just who are you?" He asked.

"What's it to you?" Ciella replied to him shakily, answering his question with another question of her own. She was startled by his sudden appearance, and she wondered why the rock suddenly broke after he had appeared.

The mans gaze softened as he realised he must've frightened the young girl in front of him, "I'm sorry, I should've introduced myself in the first place. My name is Jura Neekis. What's yours?"

Jura Neekis. As in, no it couldn't be. As in Iron Rock Jura? As in the Jura Neekis that is one of the Ten Wizard Saints. This was the wizard she had heard about. The extremely powerful earth Mage. A person she aspired to be like, as he used similar Magic to her.

And she was meeting him. He was standing in front of her right now, staring in bewilderment at the rock behind her. She couldn't help but groan in her head. Now she's embarrassed herself in from of two wizard saints. First master Jose, for not being able to use her Magic at will, and now she completely lost control of it in front of Jura Neekis. Who will it be next? Master Makarov of Fairy Tail?

But putting those thoughts aside, she answered in shock.

"I'm... Um... I'm Ciella Redfox."

"Redfox. I've heard that name. You wouldn't happen to know a man by the name Gajeel Redfox?" Jura asked suspiciously.

Ciella bowed her head, "Yeah, he's my brother. You must know of him through Master Jose right?"

"Yeah. But may I ask, what you're doing all the way out here, this far from your guild?"

"Unless you can't see, it's quite obvious she isn't alone." Iwa retorted to the sassily.

"Calm down Iwa. Well... You see, it's kind of a long story-" Ciella began to explain, but was cut off by Jura casually sitting down on the ground.

"It's okay, you can explain. I've got time to spare." He told her, gesturing her to sit in front of him.

Ciella, not being convinced, eyed him suspiciously before asking, "why are you so interested in my story?" She could've hit herself then. What was she doing. This was a wizard Saint. She should be showing more respect.

"Well, anyone who has the power to obliterate a rock like that would capture my interest. I want to know how you obtained power like that." After Jura said this, she only looked towards the now nonexistent rock that was once placed in that clearing, and just sighed, before sitting down and crossing her legs, Iwa floating down to land in the ground beside her.

"That was nothing special, it was just an accident. It only happened because I was startled by you."

"I don't think that's it. I think there's more to you than what you let on. So, will you answer my question for me?"

Ciella looked into his dark eyes. She saw no hidden motive, no danger. She only saw curiosity, interest. So, she decided that there would be no harm in telling him. He could be trusted, she deduced. After all, he was one of the wizard saints.

She ended up explaining everything to him. Even her life before Phantom Lord, as explaining what happened with that guild also lead into her explaining about her Magic, which lead into her explaining about Metalicana. He just sat there and listened, taking every bit of information in. He would be lying if he said he wasn't curious about this girl. From her words and the conviction behind her eyes, and the determination he sensed in her, he knew that despite her trouble in controlling and harnessing her Magic energy, he knew that she could amount to be a great wizard.

But to so that, she needed to be lead into the right path. Someone had to teach her the true key to becoming a strong user of earth Magic. So he made a decision. A decision made on his judgement of this girls past, and what she could grow to become in the future. He would make her an offer. And he hoped for her sake that she would agree to it. It would be a good method of learning. After all, he always wanted to get the experience of teaching someone else.

Once Ciella has finished her explanation, they say in silence as Jura thought over the offer he was going to give her.

"I see. So what I understand, is that you need someone to teach you properly about earth Magic." He told her, making it more of a statement rather than a question.

"That's not what I'm really saying, but m, to be perfectly honest, it would be great to have someone to teach me properly. But it's the case of finding the right person." He smiled at that, for it was exactly what he was hoping that she'd say.

"Then I'm willing to give you an offer. I could teach you, be a mentor to you so you can take guidelines from my teachings and incorporate it into your own dragon slaying Magic that you should be able to practice from the Lacrima inside you."

Hearing this, Ciella's eyes widened. Was he really offering to teach her. Jura Neekis, one of the ten wizard saints, was offering to teach her Magic? This couldn't be real. No way would this ever happen.

"Are you really offering to teach me? Why? I'm nothing special." She said, lowering her eyes to the ground in front of her.

"I don't believe that. Everyone is individual and special in their own way. But you have a conviction, a determination. And I believe that those feelings in you can grow to be something powerful. I would be honoured to train someone like you. I only ask you one thing in return. In order for me to be your mentor, you would have to join my guild, Lamia Scale."

Looking up at the man sitting beige her one more, Ciella stared in shock. Was this really happening. This could be a great opportunity for her, the chance to find her inner strength. And she'd heard of Lamia Scale, they were a pretty strong guild, and if Jura's example as anything to go by, they seemed friendlier than her old guild. With that mindset, she decided.

"Okay, I accept."

The next years at Lamia Scale were an eye opener for her. She could see how a guild could be so close to each other. At Phantom it was every man for himself. No one cared for their comrades. Here, although it could be said that there was the same level of arrogance in the guild, they were all like a family. Despite this, other than Jura, Ciella didn't really socialise with the guild mates. She felt overwhelmed and found it hard to make friends.

Yet, she was now a proud member of the Lamia Scale guild, and bore their guild mark at side of her lower right thigh, just above the knee high socks she had taken to wearing.

But she had made many new memories, some great, and some very scarring on her. Some which gave her nightmares. She had gone on jobs, mainly solo, and learned what real guild life was like, and not being trapped away inside the halls of Phantom Lord.

Her training with Jura had been intensive, but he taught her a lot in the time they spent together on their 'training trips' as she had come to calm them. All this time, she was so detached from herself and who she could be. She wasn't grounded. Jura changed that. He taught her how to to ground herself, how to connect with the earth beneath her feet, in order to use it to her will.

The Magic he had taught her about, she used it to guide her own Magic. She had now been able to master the techniques she was taught as a child, as well as the dragon slayer techniques that now came as instinct to her through the dragon Lacrima. Everything had changed, she was growing stronger everyday. Everyday she came another day closer to seeing her brother, once they were both ready. She was continuously learning new things, Jura mentoring her and guiding her through everything. He had become like a surrogate father to her. Not that he could ever replace Metalicana, but he was there for her at least.

But little did she know, that her unsociable behaviour and attitude would soon change, as soon enough, a few previous guild members would return, being with them a new member that would change her life forever.

Things changed over the years for Gajeel as well. But not in the same good way as they did for his sister. He had become colder, more violent. Everyday he spent without his sister there to keep him calm, has another day his anger grew.

Anger at what, he didn't know. Was it at the guild, his guild mates? Was it at his sister for leaving him here? Or was it even at himself? These questions, he could not answer.

The only thing he knew, is that this anger he had inside him had been directed at one other guild in particular. A guild that Phantom Lord had a certain vendetta against, and rivalry with. That guilds name was Fairy Tail

Little did Gajeel know, that the upcoming war with them would change his life for the better this time. The outcome of the war would give him an opportunity, an opportunity that has never been presented to him before.

This could've been the start to the Redfox siblings coming back together. This could be the beginning of their eventual reunion. Only time can tell the outcome.

Authors note.

Hey guys. So here's the second chapter, and this'll be the last chapter dealing with Ciellas life before Lamia Scale. But this isn't all you'll hear from her past, as there will be flashbacks of certain events.

I apologise if any of the characters seem a little OOC. I'm trying to capture their personalities as best as I can.

So, yeah. Hope you enjoyed it and please vote and comment what you think.

Thanks.


	4. Chapter 4

Just over two and a half years had passed since Ciella first joined the guild. The year was X784 and she had become settled and relaxed into the guild. So much so, that she was currently relaxed with her feet up on a table, sound pods in blasting music in her ears.

Every guild member had noticed that she had been in an extremely good mood the last few weeks. Possibly due to the fact that the war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord had come to an end quickly, Fairy Tail coming out victorious and Phantom Lord being disbanded for their actions. She had then heard that her brother ended up surprisingly becoming a member of Fairy Tail.

So she smiled when she heard this. Her brother was finally going down a path that could bring him happiness. From what she had heard from Jura, Fairy Tail was a guild that each member valued each of their comrades as if they were family. It would be a good change for him. The day was getting closer, she could feel it, but it still wasn't quite the right time yet. She needed to wait until he had settled in fully, and as well as the right moment.

Ciella's P.O.V

My musings and relaxed state was interrupted however, as I felt a small tremor in the ground below me. No one else would be able to feel it, as it was only a small vibration that I felt through the connection I had made with my element. It was a warning, that something was about to happen.

Just in time, I flipped backwards out of the chair she sat in, just as a small pulled of rock emerged from the ground, knocking it over. Frowning at this, I took my sound pods out before glancing behind me at Jura, who was looking my way expectantly. I also registered four other people there, four people that I didn't recognise. They seemed to be looking my way, confused as well.

All of them seemed to be around my age, and their were three guys, and one girl. My eyes landed on the shock of bright blue hair first. The boy was quite small, shorter than the rest of his companions. His face was slim and the most prominent feature that stood out was the two thick black eyebrows, that made him look like he was frowning half the time. Next, I spotted the tall guy behind him, his browny orange hair fell almost to his shoulders. What made his appearance weird, was the dog like features on his face, as well as the two orange coloured ears protruding from the top of his head.

I looked to the girl next, and couldn't deny that she was pretty. Her bright pink hair was tied up in long, curly pigtails, loose strands framing the side of her face, which palely contrasted with the brightness. Her dark eyes seemed wistful, and her facial structure was soft and delicate. But for some reason, I felt that this appearance was deceiving, that there an underlying personality to this girl. If so, then we would get on great.

Finally, I saw the tall boy that stood with them, seemingly taking everything in, looking around curiously. His hair was a snowy white colour, and spiked up with a small tuft falling down framing the side of his face. His slanted eyes seemed almost scrutinising, but there was an underlying sadness and hurt behind them. It made mewonder what happened in this boys past.

After I had finished analysing these new people, I vaguely noticed Jura gesturing her to join them. So I quickly walked over, not wanting to make him wait.

"Was that really necessary Jura?" I asked once she had made it over to her mentor.

He only sighed, "Well, I did call out to get your attention, but it seemed you were once again ignoring me for your sound pods. So I decided to take matters differently."

"Yeah, but you do realise that there are more calmer ways to get someone's attention, than..." I gestured behind her to the fallen chair and the rock pillar, "that."

"Well, it's always good to see that you're still aware of your surroundings, despite the fact of you seeming to be ignorant to them entirely."

I could've made a comeback with that, but then remembered the people standing, looking bewildered at us.

"So Jura, mind introducing me to our guests?" I asked, gesturing to the people in front of them.

"Ah yes, Ciella, I'd like you to meet some former members of Lamia Scale, who left just before you arrived. As well as a possible new member. I'd like you to meet Yuka Suzuki," he gestured to the blue haired boy, "Toby Horhorta," then to the dog looking boy, "Sherry Blendy," the girl was next, "and their friend, Lyon Vastia." That was the name of the white haired boy.

Jura then placed a hand on my shoulder, "And I'd like you guys to meet my student, Ciella Redfox. As I said, you left before she arrived, so you haven't had the chance to meet her yet."

"Nice to meet you." I waved to them, it would be nice to have some people around my age here, most of the guild mates were either older or younger than me.

Looking at them, I could see the three previous members jaws open in shock.

"Jura, you took on a student?" Yuka, the blue haired guy asked in bewilderment.

"She must be crazy powerful if she's Jura's student." Toby piped up as well.

"Oh no, no. I'm not all that powerful. Jura only took me in at a time of need-" I tried explaining, before said man cut me off.

"Stop being so humble about yourself Ciella. You've improved vastly over the years."

"Like you're one to talk." I retorted. Honestly, I think Iwa's sarcasm is rubbing off on me.

"Anyway, I have some errands to run Ciella, so I was hoping you'd be able to help these guys show Lyon around the guild. It would be good for you to get to know them, after all, you might end up working with them one day."

"Sure thing Jura." I told him. With that, he left, leaving me with the four guys, three of which instantly begin bombarding me with questions. I was overwhelmed by it, and couldn't keep up with what they were saying. It kept on going until a voice called out.

"Stop, can't you see you're making the girl uncomfortable." A clear voice rang out over the heads of the three surrounding me. It had been Lyon. The three of them instantly stopped and apologised.

"No, it's okay. You can ask me questions, just, please, one at a time." I told them, smiling. I looked back over to Lyon. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Was the curt reply I received.

Well, it looks like I'm going to have work cut out getting to know this guy.

Over the next couple of hours, I slowly got to know the four of them. We were all around the same age, except that I was still slightly younger, with Sherry being seventeen, Yuka and Toby were eighteen, and Lyons was the oldest of us being nineteen. I learned that Yuka used a form of Wave Magic that could dispel other Magic attacks, sort of like a form of anti-Magic. Toby's nails could elongate, and they were used as a paralysis weapon. Sherry's Magic fascinated her. It was called Doll Attack, and it involved her taking control of objects.

Lyons Magic however, was something else. The Mage used ice-make Magic. Ciella had heard of this, and she had heard that it was a creation Magic, where the castor could make any creation out of ice. It was unique and beautiful to each different Mage who practiced it, and Lyons form was unique as the creations he could make were animate, even giving a small demonstration, creating a small flock of Eagles.

Over the time, they all became close friends. Lyon, although quite detached at first, as they revealed that guild life was new to him, settled in quite quickly with the help of his friends. Once he did, Ciella instantly noticed that he was confident. He also had a determination about him. It was almost like looking back at her younger self. He had a determination to get stronger.

But despite everything, we all became close friends over the next weeks. And our friendship only grew with every job we went on. These guys slowly brought me out of my unsocial state, and it helped me to become less detached. I never imagined that I would obtain bonds like this with other people. It made me happy, knowing that there would be people there for me, and in turn, I would be there for them.

Sherry and I even agreed to buy an apartment together, and split the rent to make it easier. Every moment I spent with her was a joy. Getting to know her was great. She had this funny obsession about love, and I could also see that she was madly in love with Lyon. They had eventually trusted me enough to tell them what happened between the time they left the guild and before they came back. They told me hat happened on Galuna Island, with the demon Deliora. They had been caused sadness by this demon, which is why the three of them had joined Lyon in the first place. But their plans were foiled by a group of Fairy Tail wizards, including Lyons childhood friend and rival, Gray.

They had hesitated in telling me at first, thinking that I would possibly think I'll of them. But I didn't. That was the past. I knew them for who they are now. That's how I'll always know them.

Despite our friendship though, Lyon and I would always end up in fights. And that's how the day we found out that we'd be working together for a very important mission started.

"YOU WANT TO SAY THAT TO MY FACE ICE FREAK!" I shouted to Lyon, getting into his face.

"YOU HEARD EXACTLY WHAT I SAID ROCK HEAD!" Lyon shouted back, shoving me back slightly.

"YOU BETTER TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW!"

"OR WHAT!"

"Enough." A voice calmly stopped us in our tracks, and we were pushed back from each other, "What have I told you two about fighting."

I looked up to see Jura looking down on us. His gaze hardened at the sight of us glaring at each other once more.

"Sorry Jura." I said, my gaze shifting from Lyons down to the floor.

"Yeah, sorry." Lyon only continued to glare at me, not seeming sorry at all.

"Okay, now that's cleared up. I've come to tell you that Master Ooba has requested to see us. Come one you two." He looked around, nothing the shock of pink hair near us. "She wants to see you as well Sherry."

Together, the four of us made our way to the masters office, finding the old woman inside.

"Now you kids," her crooked voice began, "I'm sending you four on a very important mission. Our guild along with the guilds Blue Pegasus, Fairy Tail and Cait Shelter, have agreed to form an alliance in order to take down the dark guild, the Oracion Seis. And I have chosen you four to represent Lamia Scale in this alliance. You'll be working together with the mages from these other guilds, so don't let Lamia Scale down."

"You mean I have to work with him?" I pointed to Lyon. Lately, when we went on jobs, I had just been finding it impossible to work with the guy, his arrogance was growing and it kept pissing me off.

"You mean I have to work with her?" Lyon said at same time, pointing to me as well.

"You have any complaints? If so, I'll spin you." Master Ooba threatened. Oh dear no, I didn't want to have to go through that again, that experience was horrible.

Me and Lyon out our hands up in front of us in surrender and said at the exact same time, "No, not at all."

"Good. Now, go get ready to go, Jura has all the details of the meeting place, and if you don't make Lamia Scale proud, I'll spin you."

And that was the start of a new mission. A mission that would lead to new things. I had no idea that during this mission, I would learn a lot more about my comrade Lyon Vastia, and in turn, he would learn a lot more about me.


	5. Chapter 5

We had finally made it the rendezvous point after a tense journey, which mostly consisted of Lyon making stabs at me about my motion sickness. I've tried explaining to that guy a thousand times, I can't help it. But we eventually arrived there. The second home of Blue Pegasus' master, Bob. We had sent Lyon and Sherry in ahead of us, to check if any of the other allied guilds had arrived, whilst Jura stayed as I surveyed the perimeter.

"I can sense no other man-made vibrations around the perimeter, other than the ones from inside. There are no enemies here." I told Jura, standing from where I had been previously kneeling with my palm placed against the bare ground. It was a technique I had picked up soon after Jura helped me to become more connected to the earth. This particular technique, Earth Sense, allows me to focus on certain areas around me to pick up any vibrations that aren't naturally made by the earth itself. I could also pick up certain energy signatures within the earth that equate to large amounts of Magic energy, which is useful for providing insight of danger. The technique could still be improved upon though, I had learned to tell animal signatures apart from human signatures, but I had yet to be able to sense the different patterns in the vibrations each individual makes.

Therefore, I can't tell an enemy from an ally. I could only check up to see if there was any signatures outside, because all of the allied forces would be inside the mansion.

"Finally, you're done. It's about time, we can finally go inside." Iwa spoke up from where she floated in the air, the wind flapping the bottom of her forest green shorts and grey shirt.

"Watch what your saying cat." We then heard commotion from inside. "But it does sound as if a fight will break out if we don't dispel the tension from inside." She said, as they walked to the door to see a lot of tense stare downs. Lyon was facing down against a tall guy who looked around the same age as him, with messy black hair, and Sherry was staring off against a blonde girl. She noticed several others, but only really cared about the impression he guild mates would give about Lamia Scale.

"Enough!" Jura cried out, slamming his staff against the ground, "We are here to work together as a group to destroy the Oracion Seis."

"Seriously, do none of you have a shred of class or respect for other guilds. Don't fight in someone else's home, especially that of a guild masters, and especially if they aren't here." I called out sarcastically, looking pointedly to Lyon and Sherry.

"Ciella's right, this is not the time for us to fight among ourselves." Jura continued.

"Yes Jura." Was the only reply, which came from Lyon.

"That's Jura?" The red haired girl standing further into the hall gasped. I recognised her, anyone who has read Sorcerer Weekly would be able to recognise Titania Erza. Wow, so Fairy Tail sent along some real powerhouses if Erza was anything of an example.

Behind Erza, I recognised the short, orange haired man to be Ichiya, and behind him, was the Trimens. God, they annoyed me. I visited Blue Pegasus only a few times when I took jobs that were based on their town. Honestly, I would really rather forget those times.

The Trimens, otherwise known as Hundred Night Hibiki, Holy Night Eve, and Still Night Ren, were massive flirts.

So, quickly moving passed them, I focuses on the last person in the room. Pink hair. Not as bright as Sherry's though, more pale. He had sharp features, but a childish glint in his eye. This had to be Salamander, the Fire Dragon Slayer. I was hoping that he'd come along on this mission, he was always someone that I'd wanted to meet. He was apparently very powerful, and rumour was that he was the one to defeat my brother in the battle between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord. He also had a bright blue cat that stood on its hind legs like Iwa was currently doing. He had a white path on his belly, and the end of his tail was white as well.

"So that's really him?" Ren spoke up, before Hibiki continued.

"Lamia Scales top man, Iron Rock Jura."

"Who?" Salamander asked. Was he really that ignorant? But then he seemed to take a sniff at the air, before his eyes landed on me, "That scent." He whispered to himself. So maybe he's not completely ignorant, after all, he will have the senses of a dragon slayer.

"That guy is one of the ten wizard saints." The blue cat explained to him, looking up at his partner.

"Yeah, which means he's kind of a big deal." Well, blondie got that right. From studying under Jura, I had seen he was extremely powerful, yet, for my years of being his student, I've never witnessed the full power he possesses.

Sherry was quick to speak up after the blonde girl.

"So, we have four from each guild, how many do we really need to take down six people."

I sighed at this, but didn't say anything. Jura had already explained everything to us, I'm sure she would be reminded of the task at hand at some point.

"Aww, why do they always forget me." The blue cat wailed.

"It seems we have representatives from three guilds." Jura spoke up once more, "the members from Cait Shelter have yet to arrive."

"Yes, and about that guild, I heard that they're only sending one." Ichiya told us, from where he was swinging on the end of the spear Ezra was holding. The guy really must have done something to creep her out.

"Just one member?" Ezra questioned.

"That's insane, we're supposed to be up against a powerful group here." Te black haired guy said incredulously.

The vibrations in the ground peaked them, but I couldn't pick up clearly, too much interference from not being on bare soil.

"One? If that's true..." Blondie started, that's when I heard footsteps behind me, and turned as she continued, "just how crazy intense is this guy gonna be?"

I had fully turned in time to see a small blue haired girl wear inning a blue and yellow dress trip over her own feet whilst crying out.

After hearing the cry, everyone else turned to see the little girl picking herself up.

"Ow." She cried, before brushing herself off, and looking up.

We all just stared at her in bewilderment.

"Hi." She said shyly, "I - uh - I'm sorry I got here so late. I've come from the Cait Shelter guild. My name's Wendy, it's nice to meet all of you."

The silence of our shock was the broken by the blonde girl.

"She's a kid?"

"A little girl?" Lyon questioned.

"Wendy, huh." Salamander said under his breath.

In the confusion, everyone was all mumbling under their breath, but I was focused on something else. The scent of this girl, it was like the one on Salamander that I had caught earlier, as well as the distinct scent I remember my brother possessing as well.

"Now, then, since all guilds are present, we can begin." Jura stated, seeming to be the only one unfazed by this whole endeavour.

"He's not even fazed by this!" The black haired guy cried out.

"Obviously not." Lyon retorted.

"Jura hardly gets fazed by anything." I said back, watching the unbelieving look on this guy's face.

"What on earth's Cait Shelter thinking? Sending a little girl on a mission like this." Sherry asked, "They must really be hurting for member if they sent her here on her own."

Okay, Sherry, I love you like family, but seriously, sometimes you get on my nerves, is what I wanted to say to her at that moment. Her scrutinising attitude could really do with a talking to.

"She isn't alone." Another voice came out of nowhere, "you shouldn't jump to conclusions." A pure white cat, walked up to stand beside the blue haired girl, dressed in a pink skirt and yellow shirt with pink cuffs and a pink bow around her neck, and another tied at the end of her tail. She had a stern, motherly look on her face.

"What is this?" The black haired guy asked.

"A cat." Lyon answered the obvious.

"Woah, she's just like Happy." Salamander said.

At this, I heard Iwa sigh, well, she had been silent the whole time. One could've not noticed her.

"And none of you seemed to have even noticed me." She spoke up, finally drawing attention to herself from everyone.

"They can talk to." The blonde girl cried out. I seriously need to learn these guys names.

"Oh Carla, you followed me here?" Wendy asked her feline partner.

"Of course I did," the cat, Carla, stated, "you're far too young to be travelling unaccompanied child."

"Pretty kitty." The Trimens all said in unison.

"You flirt with cats to!" I can see this was going to go downhill very quickly. If seems that tensions are still running high from earlier.

Everyone was still looking to Wendy, when she started talking again.

"I'm sorry, I'm probably not what you expected. I know I'm much smaller and younger than most of you, and I may not be much of a fighter, but I know all kinds of support Magic. So please... Let me join the group I would be so embarrassed if you sent me home." She cried, pleading with us. We all stared in confusion again, why did she think we would send her home? I suppose the guys didn't really make the best first impression on her.

"You'll never gain their respect if you can't show confidence child." Carla scolded her.

"I'm sorry Carla," Wendy apologised.

"I swear, you'll drive me to Catnip."

"I can't help it."

Erza stepped forward towards the shy girl, "forgive me, I was caught off guard. Rest assured, no offence was meant. We're glad to have you aboard Wendy."

"I'm sure you'll be a great asset to the team Wendy. Everyone will be able to contribute something, no matter how little it is. I'm sure we would be thankful for your support." I assured the girl, and watched a smile grow on her face.

"Oh wow, you're Erza and Ciella right? I can't believe it's really you." Wendy gushed. I was quite startled, I didn't really think she'd know who I was.

"You're not quite the monsters I was expecting I'd have to admit." Carla spoke up.

I sweat dropped at that, and heard Lyon snicker behind me, before turning to glare at him.

"So Lyon, mind introducing me to this acquaintance of yours." I said, motioning to the black haired guy.

"Oh, this is Gray, the person I studied under my master with." He said distastefully.

"Oh, so this is the infamous Gray is it. Nice to meet you. I'm one of this idiots guild mates, Ciella." I held out my hand for him to shake, noticing Lyons annoyed glare out the corner of my eye I chuckled. He can be so easy to irritate.

"Hey, I've heard of you. You're Jura's student aren't you?"

"Wait, this girl has been taught by Jura?" The blonde appeared out of nowhere.

"Yeah, I'm surprised I'm known that much, not many people know I'm the person who Jura took under his wing." I said surprised, how did people know who I was by my name?

"Are you kidding, anyone who reads Sorcerer Weekly knows that Jura took on a student by the name of Ciella." So that's why that reporter who came to the guild was asking so many questions. I must've missed that issue.

"I'm Lucy, by the way." Lucy continued, introducing herself.

Suddenly, Salamander came up behind me.

"Hey, I have to ask you something. Why do you smell so much like that Iron head, Gajeel. By the way, the names Natsu."

Sighing, I knew this was going to come up eventually. Well, they are in his guild after all, might as well tell them.

"That's because, well, he's my brother."

Silence came over the three of them, as their eyes widened.

"WHAT!" They all shouted at the same time.

"Yup, I'm his sister. Ciella Redfox. Nice to meet people who are from the same guild as my dopey older brother." I said cheerfully.

"But, if you're his sister, then that means you must be..." Natsu began, but trailed off. In my head, I knew exactly what he was trying to say.

"Yeah, you're right. I'm a dragon slayer to. The Earth Dragon Slayer. But only second generation. I had a Lacrima implanted into me as a child."

Once again, for the second time in my life, I was immediately bombarded with questions.

And once again, I was saved by Lyon of all people.

"Okay guys, give her some room to breath."

They instantly stopped, seeing the annoyed look I was giving them.

I happened to look behind me at that moment.

"Maybe you guys should help do something about that." I gestured to where Wendy was sitting uncomfortably as the Trimens pampered her.

They all left then, going off by themselves and I turned to face Lyon. "Thanks for that. It seems you do have your uses."

He shoved my shoulder playfully, glaring, "Shut up." Was all he said. And j laughed at his antics, before glancing to see where Iwa had gotten off to. She was laughing to herself, watching Happy trying failing to get Carla's attention. Smiling to myself, I thought about the fact that it seems she's finally found some of her own kind. This could possibly be the start of a great friendship for her.

Everyone was silenced however, as Ichiya stood on a small rug, lights in each corner shining up dramatically at him as he spoke. "Okay, now that all the involved parties are present, I think it's about time we get the mission briefing underway."

"You gonna brief us through interpretive dance?" Lucy asked sarcastically, picking up on the weird hand movements Ichiya was performing.

"Our first order of business; is determining the location of the Oracion Seis." He paused for a few seconds, "Right after I go make a letter of the alphabet." And with that, he waddled off, out of sight.

I heard the Trimens begin clapping behind us, and Gray said disgustedly, "Great, if he's making the letter 'poop' I'm out of here."

"Thanks so much for putting that image in my head Gray." I sarcastically retorted from my spot beside Jura.

"We're rooting for you teacher." The Trimens encouraged in unison.

"Hey, pick a title will ya." Lucy said.

Those guys were really starting to get on my last nerve. If they continue like this, I swear Earth Dragon Roar them into the next century.

After a while, Ichiya was back and standing in the same small rug again, except the Trimens had come to stand behind him.

"Much better. Now please, pay close attention. To the North, lies the Worthwood Sea, where the ancients once sealed a powerful force. A Magic, called Nirvana." He said dramatically.

I really was starting to get tired of those poses.

"Those poses are getting really old." Gray spoke exactly what I was thinking.

"Nirvana?" Lucy and Natsu questioned together, eyes wide.

"Never heard of it." I heard Lyon say.

"Jura, do you know what it is?" Sherry turned and looked past me at said man. But only sighed, before admitting, "No. I do not."

"But it sounds ominous." I input.

"We don't know much about this Magic other than its name," Ren began to explain, "and that it's destructive in nature."

"And the Oracion Seis want it badly." Eve continued.

"Destruction Magic?" Natsu breathed.

"Okay, bad feeling confirmed." Lucy spoke up fearfully.

There was a bad feeling to this. If the Oracion Seis got there hands on this type of Magic, there's no knowing what the outcome would be.

"We don't even know what kind of magic this is gonna be, how destructive it's gonna be. We have no idea what might happen if we allow them to obtain this Magic." I spoke up, voicing my concerns.

"But how are we going to find something, if we don't even know what we're looking for?" Iwa whispered to me.

"Because we're here to take down the Oracion Seis, in order to stop them from finding it." I explained back to her, seeing a look of understanding form on her feline face.

"We assume that's why they've travelled to the Worthwood Sea. As Ciella mentioned, they're desperate to get their hands on such a powerful Magic." Hibiki continued to explain the situation.

"To prevent that from happening," Ichiya spoke up,

"We must destroy the Oracion Seis." He and The Trimens all stated at the same time, and I swore I could've seen glitter coming from their bodies. That was weird.

I heard Lucy and Gray mumble something to each other, before Ren began to speak again.

"We may have the advantage in numbers, but remember,"

"We cannot underestimate them." Eve finished.

"They're incredibly strong, we may be well in over our heads." Hibiki then snapped his fingers, and a glowing screen was produced in front of him, and he began typing away at the characters at the bottom of it.

"That's Archive." Jura said.

"I don't believe I've seen it in use before." Lyon voiced his thoughts. He was right, you don't see many archive users these days. But it really is useful sometimes.

"And what is it for exactly?" Sherry asked.

Suddenly, three more screens with pictures appeared in front of us.

"Storing information." Hibiki gave his answer to Sherry. "Such as these photographs of our enemy. Don't ask how we got them."

We looked at the first photo, it was of a maroon haired man, maybe just older than me, who displayed a smirk and smug expression on his tanned face. A bright purple, giant snake was with him.

"First up is the snake wizard. Cobra."

"Beady eyes and a mischievous smirk, he looks like trouble to me." Natsu spoke up.

"Talk about the pot calling the kettle black." Lyon and Gray said in unison, and I looked at them, slightly freaked out.

The next photo was of a guy who had his back facing the camera, so we couldn't see his facial features properly due to the shadows. What I could discern was blonde, spiked up hair, a long nose, red jacket with white down the back of the sleeves, white trousers and gloves.

"Next is a wizard, who judging from his name, likely uses speed Magic. Meet Racer."

"I don't know what it is, but I don't like the looks of this guy." Gray admitted.

"I don't either." Lyon agreed.

"Well, speed doesn't mean anything when your feet are stuck inside some rock." I smirked.

After that, we were shown a large man who was long orange hair, and very sharp, almost block like facial features. He seemed to be wearing traditional bankers clothing, and held a book close to his chest.

"Then there's a wizard who's willing to

Wipe out an entire military unit, if the price os right. Devine eyes Hoteye."

"The guy kills for money?" Sherry asked.

"It turns my stomach." Jura spoke up. Please calm down Jura, I really don't want to see you get pissed.

After that, the picture of a woman with short white hair, that had a blueish tinge to it. She wore a revealing feathered dress, reminiscent of a swan, or an angel, that was paired with long blue gloves.

"She's gorgeous, but just as vicious." Hibiki continued to explain, "this is Angel."

Seems to be a very fitting name.

"She the beautiful but deadly type huh? Is this chick for real." Lucy said from behind me.

The photo that came next, was of a young man, who seemed to be asleep. His head was bowed down against his chest, black and white strands of hair shadowing his face. He was sitting on an ornate rug, which looked as if it was floating. I wonder just who this guy is.

"The next member is such a mystery, all we know is his name. Midnight."

"That's and odd, does it correlate to his power?" Erza asked herself.

"Even so, I just love cracking mysteries." I spoke up, punching my hand into my fist.

The sixth and final picture revealed a man much older than the rest, this guy must be the master then. His white hair was slicked back, revealing his dark skinned face, that had several black marks adorning it. His fur lined coat was open, revealing what looked like a guild mark across his abdomen and chest. In his hand, he held a freaky staff with a decorated skull on top of it, which had a crystal in between its teeth.

"Finally, the commander of the Oracion Seis. Brain. There you have it, alone they can wipe out entire guilds. And together they're unstoppable. We have thirteen to their six, but that's our only advantage." Hibiki finished off his presentation, giving is time to take in this information.

"Question." Lucy said shakily, "Can I volunteer to stay behind and not die on this mission." I rolled my eyes at this. She would be fine. I'd actually recognised the name earlier. Lucy of Fairy Tail. Apparently she was a powerful Celestial Wizard. They were rare these days. But they aren't to be underestimated.

"I don't want to die either so can I please go home." Wendy also said, in the same tome of voice as Lucy.

"You cannot, we have a job to do child."

I ignored after that, and thought to myself. The Oracion Seis. They were apparently very powerful. But we had our own power at our backs. I'm sure that we could do this if we all worked together.

"Curb your fear my friends." Ichiya's voice rang out, "There is more to our mission than mortal combat. With your help, perhaps we can find the enemies stronghold."

"They're stronghold?" Natsu questioned.

"Yeah, you heard the man." Ren spoke up, "we've looked everywhere but we've had no luck."

"Here's the deal, they've got to have a temporary base in the Worthwood Sea." A picture of said forest came up with Eve's statement.

"And once we've located it, our plan is to gather the Oracion Seis inside." Ichiya explained.

"How do we do that?" Gray asked casually.

"We beat 'em up and drag their bodies there." Natsu said enthusiastically, jumping up and down.

"He's a little too excited about this." Lucy sweat dropped.

"What's the next part of the plan?" Ezra asked.

Ichiya pointed to the sky, well, what would be the sky if we didn't have a roof over our heads.

"Then, we'lol give them a one way ticket to oblivion. Courtesy of Christina, the pride of the Blue Pegasus guild."

We all gasped.

"If heard about the Magic bomber, but I'd heard it was just a myth." Sherry spoke up.

"What! Woah, is that necessary, there's only six of 'em." Lucy cried.

Juras voice boomed out, "That's the type of enemy we face."

"Sir yes sir." Lucy jumped back, frightened.

We were all surrounding Jura as he addressed us.

"Remember, under no circumstances should you face the enemy in solo combat. Our best bet is to separate them and devote two wizards to each fight. Ciella, when we get to Christina, I want to use your Earth sense to try and find any other signatures. Any others that aren't the ones around you should be them, if we find them, we should find the base."

"Yes Jura. I'll do my best to locate the enemy." I informed him.

"If anyone can locate them, it's Ciel." Iwa cheered whilst flying up into the air above me.

"Shut it Iwa. There's no guarantee it'll work. I've not fully perfected the technique yet." I said, lowering my head. "But all I can do is try, do I will."

Once again, I heard Lucy's cries. "This is a total nightmare."

"I can't take the pressure." Wendy agreed.

"Would you two stop acting like children." Carla scolded in a stern voice.

Natsu punched a flaming fist into his opposite hand.

"Let's go. I'm all fired up."

With that, he blasted the door down and ran off straight away. Honestly, does that guy have no regard for other people's property, or working as a team? Erza, Gray and Lucy tried running after him to slow his down. Everyone expect Ichiya and Jura joined them outside the mansion.

"Overkill much?" Ren complained, rubbing his head.

"Yeah, no kidding." Eve continued.

"Just great, we're going to have fix it." Hibiki moaned.

"No offence, but I think we have bigger thing to worry about than a broken door." Iwa piped up, flying over the heads of the three male wizards.

I sighed before looking up at my partner. "Iwa, if you keep continuing to use Aera, you're going to use up all your Magic energy."

She only shrugged. One of these days she's going to regret using up all of it.

"Enough gawking. Move." Erza ordered.

"I guess we're playing catch up with that dork." Gray said, looking down the road Natsu ran off on.

"Aww, do we have to?" Lucy cried, she seemed to be doing that a lot. With that, the three of them tore off, Gray shouting to Lucy, "would you quit crying?"

"Their energy is as infectious as I remember." Lyon spoke up from beside me. "Ready Sherry? Ciel?" He tore off as well, Sherry and I following closely behind.

"Yeah!" Sherry cried out.

"Let's go kick some Oracion Seis butt. Race ya!" I shouted, tearing in front of Lyon.

Third Person P.O.V

"I'm too old for this." Jura sighed, watching everyone speed off ahead of him.

"Mehn." Ichiya's voice came from behind him.

"In any case," Jura turned around to face the short man, "the operation is underway. We should join up with the others."

"Slow your roll, shiny dome," Ichiya suddenly spoke up, pointing to Jura, "I've heard through the grapevine that you're one of the ten wizard saints. Would this statement be true?"

"Indeed I am." Jura nodded his head.

"It's quite a privilege to fight alongside someone as skilled as Master Makarov." Ichiya struck another pose as he said this.

"I wouldn't go that far." Jura intervened, holding up a hand. "Though I am honoured to bear the title, it is given to whomever the Council deems worthy, equating myself with Makarov is tantamount to comparing the heavens to the earth. I'm sure you can guess which applies to me."

"I see," Ichiya continued, turning around and pulling out a small vial, "That might be the best new I've heard all day."

With that, he popped the cork off the vial.

"If you were as powerful as that fossil, it would make my job far more difficult."

A purple must with golden strands running through it invaded the air around Jura, and he suddenly collapsed in pain.

"What is that smell." He questioned desperately, holding his nose to keep the foul smelling fog out.

"This particular parfum causes an opponent to lose their will to fight." Ichiya explained as Jura collapsed onto his knees, "Ichiya, what have you done?" Jura cried out.

"Idiot. You fool." Ichiya's voice became distorted, like another's voice was merging with his. He popped the cork off of another vial, and red attacked Jura, causing him extreme pain.

"That's more like it, drown in relentless pain and torment. Are you enjoying the potent effects of my little fragrance." When he saw Jura collapsed in the ground, he corrected himself, a childish voice merging with his once more.

"Oops, that's not right, I meant parfum."

In a puff of blue smoke, Ichiya disappeared, and his place two small blue creatures bounced together in the air.

"Yay, we're back to normal." One of them squeaked.

"Yuck, that midgets head was filled with perverted stuff." The other squeaked with a slightly deeper tone.

"Don't remind me brother. That guy could be so gross."

"No complaining, you're not done yet." A smooth feminine voice spoke up as a young woman walked out of the forest.

"Piri, piri." The two blue creatures cried.

Jura lifted his head, to look at the intruder.

"No, not you, why are you here? Why didn't Ciella sense you?" He questioned in pain.

"Aww, isn't it obvious? You've been duped darling." Angel said in a patronising voice, "we copied your little comrade, from his dumpy body to every thought in his perverted mind."

The two blue creatures floated next to her, one each side of her head.

"Now we know your plan."

"You can't hide anything from us."

"And as for that little student of yours?" Angel spoke up again, "I just stayed as still as I could until she was inside. I assumed that being inside and not having contact with bare earth would interfere with her being able to sense what was happening. It seems I was right."

"No." Jura croaked out.

"Yes. Two down and only eleven to go." Angel explained.

As Jura let his head fall to the ground, the blue creatures, also known as Gemi, and Mini, the Gemini twins, cried out once more, "Piri, Piri."

"Let this be a lesson to you children of light; there's no stopping, the Oracion Seis."

Preview

Oracion Seis Arc: Chapter 5 - Enter The Oracion Seis

As the Christina bomber is bombed out of the sky, the alliance of the guilds have their first confrontation with the Oracion Seis. The battle ensues, but what will be the outcome, and how will events lead from there? Will Jura and Ichiya reenter the scene? And how will Ciella act as one of the representatives is put in danger?


	6. Chapter 6

Ciella's P.O.V

"STOP MOVING YOUR FEET RIGHT NOW."

We had caught up to Gray, Erza and Natsu just in time to see Natsu fall over the edge of a small cliff into the forest below.

"Well, he stopped moving his feet." Gray retorted to Erza, as we looked over into the forest below.

"If he's not dead I'll kill him." Erza threatened.

"I see he hasn't changed at all." Sherry reminisced. That's right, they met the Fairy Tail wizards that are here today of Galuna Island.

Lyon just smiled at that. "To think I once crossed fists with that fool. It's kind of embarrassing now."

I can just imagine that, anyone who fights Natsu must get frustrated at his childish antics at some point.

"It's just another form, of love." Sherry said to him wistfully, grinning at the same time.

"Yeah, not quite." Gray swear dropped.

"To think you've crossed fists with Ciel. You must be embarrassed about losing every time." Iwa snickered, coming to land on the ground between me and Lyon, wings disappearing.

"Shut it cat, before I wrong your neck."

I turned to Lyon glaring, "Oi, you don't get to talk to her like that. Only I get to talk to her like that."

"Oh wow, I'm feeling so much love from you right now Ciel." Iwa looked up at me, a playful smirk on her face.

We had all made our way down the cliff safely, and we're running through the forest. As we went further in, I started to get a foreboding feeling. There was something strange about this forest, and it had a weird smell to it.

"What is it Ciella? You've been frowning for a while now." Lyon spoke up from where he was running beside me.

"I don't know. This forest just has a weird smell, and something about it just feels off." I told him.

"She's right, somethings not right here." Erza said from where she was running behind Gray.

"No kidding, it's like the deeper we go in the spookier it gets." That was Gray this time. So it wasn't just me that felt something was wrong around here. Maybe it has something to do with that Magic, Nirvana.

"Keep your guard up, understand." Lyon said to me and Sherry.

"Yeah." Sherry replied.

"Don't need to tell me twice." I said, before looking up at the exceed flying over our heads, "You alright Iwa?"

"Yeah, I'm okay, I can keep going."

I was worried, she had used up quite a lot of Aera. If she uses too much, she might not be able to use any in a time of need. It should be okay though, I think we're almost there.

I was right, we had finally caught up to Natsu as we came to another rocky clearing.

"You've finally caught up." He said cheekily.

"You're one sturdy freak, you know that?" Well, Gray was right, he'd fallen off a small cliff and still managed to keep running.

Suddenly, a shadow passed overhead.

"Woah." Natsu breathed, looking up, before smashed into him, sending them both to the ground. They were up in an instant, and in each other's faces.

"SO NOW WE'RE PULLING CHEAP SHOTS ARE WE!?" Natsu shouted.

"IF I WANT A PIECE OF YOU I'D TAKE YOU HEAD ON!" Gray shouted back, before Ezra separated the both of them by shoving their faces apart.

"Focus!" She ordered.

"Wow, kinda reminds me of two people I know." Sherry said u see her breath to me and the ice freak, I mean Lyon, the only reaction being us sweatdropping.

Then we looked up to see what caused the shadow over us.

"Lyon..." Sherry breathed.

"I see it." He said back.

"Wow, it really lives up to the rumours doesn't it?" I said, smiling at the sight of the magical bomber, Christina. It was flying over us, and took on the abstract image of a Pegasus in the colours of blue, purple, yellow and white. It really was magnificent.

"That's the magic bomber, Christina." Ezras voice came from up ahead.

"I want one." Natsu said childishly.

"It really loves up to the hype." Gray continued.

"Ciella." Lyon spoke up from beside me, looking at me pointedly, "remember Juras orders."

"Right." I quickly replied, before kneeling down on the ground and placing both my palms on the ground, focusing my energy into the earth and searching through a wide expanse of it around us, trying to locate any movements other than the ones immediately around me.

I vaguely heard the voices around me, but ignored them as I continued my search.

That's when I picked up on something, so I focused my energy into that particular finding, honing in on its location.

"Right, let's split up and find their temporary base." Erza ordered.

"I'm flying the bomber thing!" Natsu called, before Gray replied, "not happening."

That's when my eyes widened, and at the same time, something exploded on the side of the bomber, several other explosions went off. Everyone gasped in shock.

"What's wrong with Christina?" Hibiki cried out.

That's when we watched the ship fall to the ground down the hill we were standing on, finally fully exploding, fiery smoke sending a column up into the sky.

"This doesn't bode well." Lyon then noticed the wide eyed look on my face, staring out to the path in front of us, "What is it Ciella? Did you find something?" He asked me in a panicked tone.

"Five signatures, coming from just in front of us." I told him, as we all stared into the smoke.

I then caught the scent. The scent of six people, scents that I haven't smelled before, it had to be them.

"Gray." Natsu warned, obviously picking up on the scent as well.

"I know, we've got company. Everyone stay frosty." He called back to us all. With that, I stood from my kneeling position, preparing myself for the confrontation.

Six figures then emerged from the smoke, looking the exact same as they did on the pictures Hibiki showed us. Even that guy Midnight was sleeping as he was in the photo, floating above the ground on that rug. That explains how I was only able to sense five people.

"Yeah, that's got to be them. The Oracion Seis." Lucy breathed from behind me.

Their gazes were both smug and scrutinising. That Cobra guy was still smirking, his Snake wrapped around his shoulders and upper body. So was Angel. Brain, Racer and Hoteye just held impassive looks.

That was when Brain spoke up in a deep, chilling voice.

"Lowly maggots, swarming together."

"I'm afraid that shorty isn't going to able to join the party." Angel said, matter of factly.

"Neither is that big bald wizard Saint." One of the little blue creatures floating beside her head spoke up.

"We took them down." The other continued excitedly. My eyes widened at this. Jura.

"They're defeated?" Lyon spoke up fearfully.

"Impossible." Hibiki spoke up.

"What did you do to them!?" I cried out angrily, prepared to go ahead and attack them, but Lyon pulled my arm back, stopping me from doing something stupid.

"Just wait." He whispered. He was right, we needed to work as a team if we want to take them down. I couldn't risk our chances and risk losing another member of the team by being acting rashly.

I almost growled as I saw Cobras smirk widen even further. "There's terror in their voices, I can hear it." The arrogance in his voice was worse than Lyon on a bad day.

"The quicker we wrap this up the better," Racer spoke up, "I'll run you over so fast it will make your head spin."

That was a pretty confident statement to make. It looks like every single one of them was as arrogant as the next.

"Money determines strength in this world. Oh yeah!" The one called Hoteye began preaching, "If you save but a penny today, it shall become a vast fortune in the future. Furthermore-"

He was cut off as Cobra and Racer spoke up in unison, saying, "Enough with the preaching Hoteye."

I looked over at the one still sleeping. He has started snoring quite loudly as well, and I was starting to get a little creeped out.

"Is it sad that I'm terrified of the snoring guy." Lucy sweat dropped from behind me.

"I have to admit I didn't expect you to show yourselves." Erza finally spoke up confrontationally to them.

A silence passed over the area, the tension thickening. Then Natsu cracked his knuckle.

"You ready." He said to Gray.

"You bet." Gray replied.

If it was even possible, Cobras smirk widened further, "You want an invitation?"

"You being here is enough for us!" They shouted in unison, running straight for the group of wizards in front of us.

In an instant, before I could even blink, Racer had suddenly appeared behind them and kicked them both away from each other.

"Natsu! Gray!" Lucy's voice came from behind, but why did it sound as if there were two of them, looking around, I saw one Lucy attacking another. But how?

Suddenly I was pulled out of my thoughts, by Lyon and Sherry running towards Hoteye, so I ran to catch up. No way we're they leaving me out of the fighting.

"Sherry!" Lyon cried.

"Right!" She replied.

Suddenly, Hoteye's eyes opened and flashed. "I see you. Oh yeah!"

I had stopped in my tracks, just before getting caught in the liquified earth. But Lyon and Sherry weren't so lucky.

"Forget about love. All you need is money, money is all you need. Oh yeah!" The liquified earth rose up and trapped Luon and Sherry inside before they could even move to attempt to escape and attack.

"Don't worry guys, I'll get you out!" I shouted, hoping they could hear me, "Earth Dragon; Wing attack." I cried out, slicing my arms through the air, as several slicers made up of small, but extremely sharp rock and earth pieces, cut through the liquified earth, separating it and freeing my friends.

But suddenly, I felt a whip of wind go past me.

"You should keep your guard up more sweetheart." A cold voice spoke up, before I felt a powerful kick impact with my side, sending me to the ground.

"Ciel!" I heard Iwa's voice shoute from above me.

"Stay back Iwa!" I called back, getting up to ready myself for Racers next attack. As expected, he had gone in a flash. But before I could even think of preparing another attack, I was kicked down again.

"Earth Dragons Iron Rock Fist." I cried out, and earth encased my forearm and fist, and I punched out towards where Racer had come from, but he had dodged my attack. He was fast, but his moves were predictable, that much I had fathomed. It was about timing, I had to time my next attack right.

Racer had quickly disappeared, but I knew he'd reappear behind me. As soon as I felt a change in the wind, I sent another Iron Rock Fist to the direction. He want expecting the hit so quickly, so he was pushed back, a red mark appearing where I had punched him in the face.

Once recovered, he smirked.

"I have to admit, that was quite fast. No ones ever landed a hit on me. But you won't land another one. As I said, you shouldn't let your guard down."

I felt the rock under my feet suddenly become unbalanced, and saw that it was becoming liquified. Dammit, Hoteye took the opportunity as I was distracted. Looking behind me, I saw Lyon and Sherry facing down Hoteye.

"We'll get you out this time Ciella." Lyon said to me as I struggled to lift myself out of the mud like substance, he quickly got into a stance, before crying out, "Ice make: Eagle!"

A flock of Eagles made of ice flew sharply towards Hoteye.

"Marionette Attack: Mud doll!" Sherry shouted after, and a monstrous looking figure made out of the mud launched itself at the enemy.

"Money will triumph over all!" Hoteye shouted, a mic circle appearing in front of his outstretched hand, and a liquified earth wall was thrown up, before the wave entrapped them once more.

I managed to lift myself out in the distraction, before looking to see Ezra fighting against Cobra, wearing different armour from before. She must have required to adapt to the fight. But he was dodging all her attacks, until he blocked both of her next attacks by grabbing the hilt and blade of her two swords.

My heightened hearing picked up on what he was saying.

"I can hear it all you know. It's like a symphony. Your muscles contracting. Every breath that you take in. And all your thoughts."

So he can read thoughts can he? That's going to make fighting him difficult.

Suddenly, his eyes widened, as if seeing something he didn't want to see. He jumped back whilst gasping, "What the- you were there?"

He's open, I thought to myself, and Ezra obviously thought the same as she lunged, as did I. But her attack was quickly fend off by Hoteye's wall, and Racer also intercepted her, kicking her further in the air.

"Cobra! Pick up the pace will ya." Racer called down, and Cobra snarled.

"Cubelios!" He shouted, and his snake lunged out, aiming at Erza. I took the opening and attempted to quiet my mind whilst running towards his open back.

"Earth Dragon Talon." I cried out, rock encasing the bottom of my leg and foot, and I aimed a kick for his head. But his reaction was fast. He whipped around grabbed my leg in midair, before throwing me to the floor.

"I could hear you coming. Your attack was entirely predictable." He floated, looking down on me as I picked myself up and glared at him. Then I heard I thump behind me, and saw Ezra fall to the ground, a large bite wound on her right arm. The purple snake then came and rejoined Cobra.

"You may be fast, but you won't be able to escape Cubelios' poison." No, she's been poisoned. That's no good. I narrowed my eyes, practically snarling as the the smirk came back to this guy's face, "enjoy writhing in agony till death claims you."

Then I realised, I was the only one left standing. All of them. They were all down. I could see Lyon and Sherry lying on the ground almost immediately behind them. My friends. I wouldn't let these guys kill any of them, so I took a protective stance in from of them. They were not going to die today. None of them.

All six of the Oracion Seis stood in front of me, all looking down on the scene.

"As expected. This one's resilient, she is Jura's student after all." Cobra said eying me sceptically.

"You should just give up girl. You cannot save your friends." Brain spoke up, but I only glared at them, standing my ground. I would not let them harm my friends, "Tch, how pathetic." Brain continued, before aiming his freaky staff towards us all, "Prepare for oblivions embrace."

A purple magic circle appeared, and a swirl of green Magic emerged, surrounding us all, and rising from the ground. I fell to my knees in pain, not able to move.

"What is this Magic?" Sherry said worriedly, "it feels so dark."

"I can't move anymore." Hibiki groaned.

"Me neither." Ren spoke up after him.

"Dark Rondo." Brain called out, staff lifted into the air, before his eyes widened at something, and he let his staff fall back to his side, the green Magic disappearing.

"What's the matter Brain." Racer said incredulously.

"You gonna cast that thing or what?" Cobra continued.

Brain eyes stayed wide, as he stared at something past all of us. I turned my head to look at what would catch his attention that he would break the spell. There, hiding behind a rock with a terrified look on her face, was Wendy. She looked so frightened.

"Wendy." Brain gasped.

How did this guy know Wendy? Whatever it is, we have to protect her. But I couldn't move.

"What's the matter Brain. You gonna cast that spell or what?" Racer repeated after a pause.

"Do you know her?" Cobra asked.

"No doubt about it. That's Wendy. The Maiden of the Sky." Brain revealed. The Maiden of the Sky, but what did that mean? Just who was Wendy exactly?

"What? Maiden of the Sky?" Gray questioned from where he was on the ground.

"Wendy." Hibiki breathed.

"To think we simply stumbled upon her here." Brain continued to speak, a devising look on his face, "we've made quite a find my friends. Grab her!" His staff was aimed again, and the green Magic shot out, shaped like a hand and grabbed Wendy from the rock she was hiding behind.

"Wendy!" I cried out. We couldn't let her get taken.

"Unhand her now." Carla demanded, running after Wendy.

"Help me!" The scared girl cried out to her friend.

"Let her go!" I cried out, preparing to attack once more to stop them from taking her, but Racer suddenly appeared behind me.

"I don't think so sweetheart." He said before kicking me in the back of the head, sending me into the ground.

"Striking us whilst we're down, that's hardly fair." Natsu cried out.

"All is fair in money and war." Hoteye preached, sending his hand out, and the ground liquified again, sending us all into the air as it rose up in a curve.

"Grab my paw." Carla cried out to Wendy.

"Hang on Wendy." Iwa ran next to Carl, reaching out for the girl. But instead of grabbing Carla's paw, Wendy ended up grabbing Happy's paw and was pulled along with her.

"You grabbed the wrong cat!" Carla cried out.

I tried to get up to run towards the girl, but it as too late, as the Magic was retracted back into Brains staff, so was Wendy and Happy.

"Wendy!" A few of us cried out.

"I have no use for the rest of you, be gone. Dark Rondo." Brain shouted out, and the dark green Magic was aimed to us, coming to strike us from the air. Hibiki tried to protect Lucy from the blast, whilst Lyon grabbed Sherry.

"Earth Dragons Rock Wall!" I cried out, holding my arm above my head, the dawn time as I heard a familiar voice cry out, "Iron Rock Wall!"

Pillars of rock formed out of Hoteye's previous earth sculpture that curved around us, to form a shield over our heads which took the blast and protected everyone.

I looked to the other end of the clearing to see my mentor alive and well holding out his arm, before bringing it down once the blast was stopped. Seeing him gave me a feeling of relief. He was okay.

"That was awesome!" Sherry cried out.

"You're the best wizards ever!" Eve praised and Hibiki agreed, "I second that. We owe you one."

"Yeah, we were almost goners, thanks a million." Lucy spoke up next.

"Okay, let's take 'em down." Natsu got up, but saw that the six Oracion Seis members were gone, "huh." He breathed in confusion.

"They're long gone by now." Gray explained.

"Why'd we let 'em get away!"

I just watched as Carla walked up to where I was stood. "Oh Wendy." She breathed.

"They wiped the floor with us." Rens voice spoke up.

"Yeah, they're a lot stronger than we are, we never stood a chance against them." Eve agreed.

"The Oracion Seis. What unbelievable power." Lyon said. I had to agree, they were extremely powerful and would be hard to take down. Even for a group of elite wizards.

"And there's only six of them, they're Magic is much stronger than the rumours suggested." Hibiki continued to talk.

"Just look at what they did to Christina." I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked back to see Jura looking at me, a gesture asking if I was okay. I nodded to reassure him that I was fine, but to be honest, I was extremely worried.

"According to Angel, the woman who can peer into minds, they know everything about our mission. We're just lucky know lives were lost." He turned to the rest of the group.

"Wait a sec. What about all the people inside?" Lucy asked, referring to the destroyed Christina.

"Don't worry pretty lady." Ren spoke up.

"Christina is equipped with a remote control function, so there's no need for a pilot." Eve continued.

"We were going to climb aboard once we had found their base, but as you can see we never made it that far." Hibiki finished.

"Oh good, that's a relief." Lucy breathed.

Lyon then walked up behind where me and Jura were standing, clutching his arm.

"Glad to see you made it out unscathed." He told the man standing next to me.

"Yeah," I spoke up afterwards, "I was worried about what had happened to you."

"Not quite, in fact I barely made it out alive." Jura revealed to us.

"You're wounded?" Me and Lyon asked at the same time.

"They're power terrifies me," Jura admitted, "I hate to admit it, but if it weren't for Sir Ichiya's painkiller parfum, I would be in utter agony right now."

I suddenly realised that the small man was with us once again, still doing his bizarre poses.

"Detestable Oracion Seis, instead of bravely facing your foes, you decided to flee. Which means we win by default!" Ichiya said dramatically

Well, at least someone was still fine.

"That's not how it works, you weirdo!" Gray shouted.

Suddenly, Ichiya's face whipped around to face him with a glare on it.

"Look pal, we may be battered but we are not beaten. Here," he whipped out a small vial, "take a whiff and let my painkiller parfum ease your discomfort."

Popping the cork off the vial, he let the light green most surround us. I instantly felt my pain be relieved, and my muscles relaxed from their tense state.

"Wow what a lovely scent."

"And it works, my pain is just fading away," Lucy spoke up after Sherry, "if only he could cast the spell without all the bizarre poses.

"Way to go chief." The Trimens said in unison.

"They called him something different again."

"Bet their doing it just to annoy us." Gray replied to Lucy.

"What do we do now?" Natsu asked, getting to his knees, "How dare those punks run off with Wendy and Happy. This sucks." He got up and began running down the path. "I gotta go find them."

"Hey," Lucy cried out after him, "where do you think you're going?!"

He was suddenly pulled back by the scaly scarf around his neck, by the least likely person. Well, cat.

"You mustn't be reckless." Carla scolded him as he lay on the ground once more, her flying above him, "You need to calm down and think this through."

"Those wings."

"Was she hiding them?"

"You can fly?"

"That's so cool."

"Seriously? You've never seen Aera Magic before? That other cat Iwa has been using it this whole time. Well, in that case, it's only natural that you find it surprising." Carla explained.

"Aww, people never notice me." Iwa complained, landing on my head.

"I'm sure they didn't mean to ignore you Iwa." I told her.

"You two are tryin' ta copy Happy aren't ya?" Natsu grumbled.

"As if, dimwit." Carla and Iwa said at the same time.

"Hey now, we can have three flying cats." Lucy tried to diffuse the situation.

"Though I am concerned about Wendy and that tomcat, this does not abode to be taken lightly," Carla began to speak again, still floating in the air, "We cannot face them again till we come up with a plan of attack."

"I wholeheartedly agree lady Carla," Jura spoke up, agreeing with Carla's statement, which was true, "the enemy is stronger than we anticipated."

"Mehn." Ichiya breathed.

"But first." Carla said.

We were hiding out in the woods, and Erza was leaning up against a tree, clutching her arm, part of which was bubbling a sickly purple colour. A look of agony was plastered across her face.

It was the poison from that snake, Cubbelios.

"Are you okay?" Natsu asked.

Idiot, does she look like she okay. No she's in extreme pain.

"What's the matter?" Lucy spoke up.

Erza only cried out in pain, and Lucy continued to speak, "I'm no doctor, but it looks like the venom from her snake bite is spreading."

"Master Ichiya?"

"I've got this men." The small man claimed, "I know what you need my honey. A little painkiller parfum," he popped the cork, letting the mist surround Erza, "aroma increase."

"Since when are painkillers an antidote for snake venom?" Lucy asked.

"His parfum does a lot more than ease pain, it has a cleansing effect that'll help her body expel any toxins." Hibiki explained.

"Oh yeah." Eve said, as if remembering.

But the parfum seemed to be having no effect, in fact, her face scrunched up in pain even more.

"Erza, are you alright?" Gray asked.

"It seems like she's in even more pain now." Natsu said.

"It's not having any effect on her whatsoever." I spoke up, informing them.

"You think so?" Ichiya asked.

Erza only cries out in pain again, if anything, that parfum was making it worse.

"Oh Mehn."

"What's wrong"

"I don't know. His painkiller parfum had never fail before."

"Erza, hang in there." Natsu encouraged, walking up to his friend.

"What do we do?" Lucy turned to him.

"I'm sorry...Lucy," Ezra spoke up, "I need... To borrow, your belt." She grabbed the belt from Lucy's skirt and tore it off.

My focus was on Ezra, but I vaguely noticed the Trimens gawking as Licy skirt fell done. Jeez, what's pervs. She quickly pulled it back up, and kicked them all for looking. You go girl.

In this time, Exra had wrapped the belt around the top of her arm, above the snake bite. Don't tell me she's thinking of doing that. That would seriously hinder her ability to fight.

"Just what are you gonna do with that?" Lucy asked as Ezra tightened the belt.

"It's harsh, but it's the only way I can keep fighting." She admitted, putting a piece of cloth in her mouth. She threw her sword down into the ground, sat down and held out her arms.

"Somebody cut it off."

We all gasped. Was she really willing to go through with something like this.

"At least give us some time to find an antidote." Gray pleaded.

"I don't... Have time." She sad in pain.

"Very well." The hand of the most unlikeliest of people reached out to grip the hilt of the sword, "I will do it." Lyon said as he picked the sword up. My eyes widened at this. Would he really do that?

"How kind of you." Sherry said wistfully.

"Put down the sword Lyon." Gray jumped in from of Lyon, blocking him off from where Ezra was sitting.

"Do it!" She demanded. So she really as willing to have her arm cut off. She was a very brave woman, but that wasn't the point. If she did this, there's no telling how it will affect her in the future.

"No don't." Gray shouted.

"Um, Lyon? Are you seriously gonna do it?" Lucy asked. I looked to him, he was looking down at the sword in his hand, contemplating. Of course he was going to do it. There was times that Lyon could really be ruthless. And that scares me for some reason. I didn't want my friend reverting down the dark path of his past. I caught eyes with Iwa, and she nodded, we were ready to do anything if necessary.

"We can't lose one of our strongest when we're facing such a powerful foe." He said, readying the sword out in front of him.

"Yeah but-"

"Oh come on," Sherry began, "I can't believe we got stuck with you wimpy fairies. Quite whining, your friends gonna die if we don't do something to help her."

"That's enough Sherry," I spoke up, I didn't like confronting my friends like this, but I would if I had to, "it's completely understandable that they'd not want you to do this. She's their friend. They know how this might affect her."

"Your friends gonna die if he doesn't put down that sword." Lucy cried back to Sherrys comment.

"Whys that? This is just his way of showing love." Sherry continued.

"Nobody is going to die today." I told them, "I'm sure we'll be able to figure something out."

"Just hurry up and cut it off, before the poison spreads to the rest of my body." Erza ordered us, pain laced through her voice.

Lyon lifted the sword up, an emotionless look on his face.

"Put the sword down!" Gray demanded.

"Don't do it!" Hibiki pleaded, "do you wanna be known a the guy who maimed Ezra?"

"You don't have to do this. Stop. We'll find a cure." Eve shouted, and rushed forward, before Jura held his arm out to him.

"We have no right to interfere with her wishes."

Jura to?

"Ready?" Lyon asked as he prepared to being the sword down. And he did, but before me or Iwa could jump in to do anything, someone was already there before is. Gray encased the sword in a block of ice, preventing it from hitting Erza, "Her arm is more important to you than her life? Where are your priorities?"

"This will affect her for the rest of her life, so we can't jump the gun. There's gotta be another way we can save her." Gray explained, pleading with his childhood friend to stop what he was doing.

"You're just as spineless as ever. Figures." Lyon said venomously.

"I really thought you had changed. But you're just as shady as ever." Gray retorted, the same venomous tone in his voice.

"ENOUGH!" I shouted, drawing everyone attention, "Arguing with each other isn't going to help her."

"She's right," Iwa spoke up, "fighting amongst ourselves ain't gonna solve anything."

As if proving my point, Erza suddenly cried out and collapsed on the ground unconscious.

"Erza!" Natsu cried out in panic.

"Oh no." Lucy rushed towards her and knelt down beside her friend.

"This is bad guys. We've gotta find a way to stop the venom from spreading or she'll die." Eve said what we were all thinking.

The small silence was broken when Carla spoke up.

"We need Wendy. She could save your friend."

We all looked to her confused.

"This is no time to be bickering amongst ourselves. We need to work together to come up with a plan to rescue Wendy. And I suppose that tomcat to."

"Wait a second." Eve spoke up, "Are you saying that that little girl has some type of anti-venom Magic?"

"Amazing." Ren breathed.

"No just anti-venom. She can cure fevers, relieve pain and heal wounds." Carla explained to us. But, healing spells. Weren't they a form of lost Magic?

Ichiya suddenly came up to Carla, sweatdropping, "Excuse me, I think that my role in the group is being threatened and I find that rather unsettling."

"That's crazy," Sherry spoke up, "everyone knows that healing spells are lost Magic. There's no way the kid could use them."

"Do these powers have anything to do with that whole Maiden of the Sky thing?" Lucy asked.

I've been wondering about that myself.

"Yes it does. You see that little girl is the Sky Dragon Slayer. She's Wendy the Sky Dragon."

We all gasped. Wendy, she was a- just like me, Natsu and Gajeel?

"She a Dragon Slayer to?" Me and Natsu questioned.

"I'll give you all the details later, all though to be honest there's really not much more you need to know. Wendy is the only wizard capable of healing your friend. We need her right now. Unfortunately the Oracion Seis feel as though they need her to for some unknown reason." Carla said to us.

"In that case." Lyon began.

"There's only one thing for us to do." Hibiki continued.

"We're gonna have to rescue Wendy." Eve announced.

"We'll do it for Ezras sake." Gray spoke up.

"And Happy's to." Lucy finished off.

Natsu got an angry look in his face.

"Okay, are you with me?" He said, punching his fist into the air.

"Yeah!" We all cried out, doing the same. We could do this. Rescue Wendy and Happy. Save Erza's life. And defeat the Oracion Seis. Together, we could do that.

Preview

Oracion Seis Arc: Chapter 6 - Race to the Finish Line

The group splits off into teams to find where the Oracion Seis are keeping Wendy. In Ciella's group, she, Lyon and Sherry get separated from Jura, as he takes on a member of the Oracion Seis to give them an opening to continue searching. But whilst doing so, they end up meeting with Gray, and confronting a member of the dark guild themselves. Racer.


	7. Chapter 7

We had decided to split off into groups to cover more ground in our search for Wendy and the Oracion Seis. Our group consisted of us Lamia Scale wizards, me, Lyon, Sherry, Jura and Iwa. Gray and Natsu paired off together, along with Carla from Cait Shelter. Ren, Eve and Ichiya had grouped off together to search in another direction. And that left Hibiki and Lucy to watch over Erza. We were currently running through the forest, searching everywhere we could.

"Wait!" Lyon cried out, stopping in his tracks, stopping all of us as well. In his next action, he turned to me, "can't you use your earth sense to try and track them?"

At this I sighed and lowered my head. "Trust me, I've thought of that, but it's too unreliable when I can't tell ally from foe, it would be too hard with the group split up like this. And there's the chance they might have split up as well, making it harder if I was to try and sense six signatures together."

I heard only silence, before Lyon broke it by giving his own sigh, "okay, I understand."

This was hard, they would be hard to track, but I suppose it's worth a try if it's to save one of the group. I have to try my best.

"But I can still try. If I can't do it, we'll still keep searching." I spoke up to them, dropping down to my knees and placing both my palms on the floor, "but if it could mean finding Wendy faster, then that's all the better for us."

"Are you sure about this Ciella, this'll be your third time using it this day. You know how much Magic energy that will bun through." Jura asked me concerned.

"If it's for a good cause, then it's worth it. Even if I fail."

Closing my eyes, I focused all my energy into the earth below, and widened my field through the whole forest. My mind instantly searched for any vibration, any indication. But there was too many, for some reason, I've never felt that many signatures in one area that I've searched, as I've usually only searched for individuals in isolated areas. It was too much for my mind, which wasn't used to sensing this. I clutched my head in pain, sharpness going through it, and a small groan escaped my lips.

"Ciel!" I heard Iwa's voice call out to me.

"Ciella." I felt a hands in my shoulders, and looked up expecting to see Jura, but was surprised at seeing Lyons face instead, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." I reassured him, as he helped me to stand. As I got up, a dizziness took over me, Lyons hold on me the only thing preventing me from falling.

"What was it? You've never reacted like this using Earth sense before." Jura questioned.

"I tried locating them, but there were so many signatures, too many for it just to us and the Oracion Seis in the forest. I expect we'll be having some company soon." I looked up at him, a stern look on my face.

It turns out I was right. Soon enough, we had found ourselves surrounded by a large group of wizards in red cloaks, crouched in the trees above us, who had drawing pads with them. They were all drawing away furiously. I had deduced that they were one of the Oracion Seis' underlying guilds. Seeing as Iwa wasn't much of a fighter, I had ordered her to hide up in the trees. She was only a cat after all.

"Foolish Lamia Scale members." One of them said.

"Let us show you real magic." Another spoke up.

"Is that so?" Lyon retorted to them sarcastically.

"By drawing pictures?" Sherry continued.

"Wait, I've heard of this type of Magic." I said to Jura, looking up to him for confirmation. He nodded to me.

"It Picto Magic."

"Unison Picto!" All of the guild members shouted out, and in a puff of smoke we were surrounded by little Surrey pink creatures resembling squirrels with brown spots. Some of them were also holding up small axes.

"What are they, Goblins?" Lyon asked.

"Oh my goodness, I'm in love."

"Now's not the time Sherry." I shouted to my friend.

"Don't let your guard down, they are vicious creatures." Jura ordered us.

We suddenly found that the creatures were jumping into the air and rolling towards in little balls. Our arms were held up as we braced the impact, before striking out. I sent an Earth Dragon Wing Attack towards them, and vaguely heard Lyon say to Sherry, "You've got to fight them Sherry!"

The only reply was Sherry sending her own attack. Soon all the creatures were on the ground defeated.

"Aww the poor little things." Sherry complained.

"I said don't let your guard down."

"You should listen to the man." A patronising voice from the trees spoke out, as the Wizards around us continued to draw away.

"Don't you dare take your eyes off the cute little Goblins." Another said afterwards.

"Unison Picto!"

This time, a huge ugly green monster with wings appeared before us. No way, was that a-

"Is that a Wyvern?" There was my question answered, by Lyon.

"It's not as cute." And guess who said that. Totally not Sherry.

"They are remarkably skilled artists." Jura commented and I sweat dropped. "Yeah I can see that, but can we focus on defeating the Wyvern instead?"

The wizards ordered the Wyvern to go after us, and we found purrs elves running as it chased us.

"They're Magic is strong!" Jura said.

"What do we do?" The three of us asked.

Jura turned, before turning and crying out, "Iron Rock Spikes."

Several sharp spikes of rock protruded from the ground, entrapping the Wyvern as it roared.

"Hurry, finish it."he ordered, and we all jumped into action.

"Ice Make-"

"Marionette attack-"

"Earth Dragon-"

"Snow Tiger!" Lyons sent his attack.

"Rock doll!" Sherry's attack was next.

"ROAR!" My attack was last, as a torrent of rock and earth hit the Wyvern at a tremendous force. All of our attacks together cause the Wyvern to fly up into the air, but it quickly recovered itself and flew back towards us.

Before it could reach us, Jura sent up his spikes to impale the beast, before it dissipated into smoke and disappeared. The rest of the goblins around us disappeared to.

The Wizards around us were so panicked that I couldn't even make out what they were saying.

All I could make out was one girl saying, "Can't we draw something scarier?"

"You may think they are just drawing but I don't approve of you're careless use of living creatures to do your dirty work." Jura said angrily, a murderous glint in his eye.

They all screamed, but unfortunately that did not save them from Jura's wrath.

Lyon was interrogating one of the conscious members of that guild on the whereabouts of the Oracion Seis, but we only got a vague answer before he fell unconscious.

"What does that mean? An ancient village in the West?" Lyon questioned as he threw the man to the ground.

"Well, you've got to love the irony. These hooded flunked that the guild sent to keep us away ended up telling us exactly where to find them." Sherry piped up, but I scrunched my eyebrows in disagreement.

"Well, not quite exactly, the answer was still vague. At least we know which direction to head in."

"I want the three of you to start heading west." Jura said from his position looking off into the distance. Looking off to the direction he was staring in and focusing, I could feel the large surge of Magic energy. We would have company again very soon.

"And you?" Lyon questioned.

"And enormous amount of Magic energy is approaching." He explained briefly.

"Is it one of the Oracion Seis?" Sherry asked him.

"Most likely, I shall remain here and engage them."

"I'll stay with you." I spoke up, "two is better than just one against whoever it is."

"No Ciella, you have to go with the others to find Wendy." I opened my mouth to protest again. "No arguments."

I prevented myself from speaking. No one argued with Jura when he gave you an order in that tone. Not even me. Sighing, I looked away from my mentor.

"Fine. But will you be alright?"

"I'll be fine. Don't worry."

"Come on, I'm sure he'll be fine. This is Jura we're talking about after all." Iwa finally spoke up in a reassuring voice.

With that, me Sherry and Lyon left him behind and began to head west. Be careful Jura, I thought to myself as I walked away from the man I had come to think of as a second father, leaving him to face the enemy by himself.

When heading west the four of us had been walking through a shallow rocky canyon. But our heads turned at hearing the sound of an explosion from behind us. We could see a huge cloud of dust rising up in the near distance.

"What do you think caused that explosion?" Sherry asked.

"Gray? Natsu? Pick one." Lyon retorted.

"I'm betting Gray." Iwa inserted unnecessarily.

"Well, whoever it is, their situation can't be good if they're causing destruction in the forest." I spoke up next. I had heard of the destructive nature of the Fairy Tail Wizards, and how it always got them into trouble with the Magic Council. But hey, if it gets the job done. Maybe they do overdo it sometimes though.

We then suddenly saw Racer speed past over a rocky arch above us on a Magicycle.

"That guys with the Oracion Seis right?" Sherry spoke up as we watched him.

"Yes. The one called Racer." Lyon answered.

"I knew there was going to be trouble." I muttered under my breath, before Gray suddenly skidded to a stop in front of us on his green Magicycle.

"Looks like I was right." Iwa said smugly. Honestly, I was beginning to get the strong urge to punch that cat, despite the fact that she's my friend.

"Lyon!" Gray called out.

"Gray?" Lyon questioned.

"Your timing couldn't be any better man." Gray continued, "hop aboard."

"Excuse me?" The man replied with a bewildered look on his face.

"You heard me, so let's go."

Lyon immediately clambered onto the back of the Magicycle, holding onto Grays shoulders of support.

"But Lyon." Sherry called out.

"Don't worry about me. You guys stay here on stand by." He called back.

"Sure... Whatever you say." With that, Gray and Lyon sped away after Racer on the Magicycle, and Sherry spoke up again, "what exactly does that entail?"

"I don't know." I replied, "but there's no way that they're leaving me out of this fight. I've got a score to settle with that guy for calling me sweetheart. Twice. No one gets away with calling me that." I said picking my fist into my hand and cracking my knuckles. "Iwa!" I called up to my feline partner.

"Sure thing Ciel." She called back, her paws grabbing the back of my blue open front vest, and lifting me into the air using her Aera Magic. Despite her size, Iwa was one really strong kitty.

We flew after the two guys as they sped ahead of us, chasing after Racer. Finally, we came to a grassy clearing where they had a clear view of the guy in front of them. I could hear everything they were saying as we continued to fly quite low to the ground. They had found Wendy and Natsu was taking her and the other cats back to Erza, Lucy and Hibiki. That's a relief. I watched as whilst Gray drove, Lyon sent attacks towards Racer. He sent a flock of Eagles first, which destroyed the Magicycle and sent Racer to the ground. But he had disappeared in an instant and suddenly reappeared above them using his speed.

He destroyed their own Magicycle, but whilst in the air Gray shouted "Now!" And they quickly cast their spells, Lyon sending an ice ape and Gray sending an ice hammer. Despite the quickness of their attacks, Racer was still faster, and wasted no time in kicking them to the ground.

"Here Iwa, drop me." I told my partner.

"Are you sure?" She asked.

"Yeah. And once you have, head back to where Lucy, Hibiki and Erza are. I don't want to risk you getting hurt."

"Okay. If that's your orders."

With that, I felt her paws let me go, letting me fall to the ground. The momentum caused me to head face down, but I quickly flipped to right myself and landed in a crouch in between the two guys and Racer. Getting to my feet, I stared down the enemy, who only smirked at my sudden appearance.

"I thought I told you to stay back Ciella." Lyon said, coming up to stand next to me.

"Yeah, well, you should know me enough by know that I never listen to you." I retorted.

"I'm beginning to welcome you dropping in unannounced sweetheart. At least there's something nice to look at when I'm fighting. It won't prevent me from sending you six feet under though." He attempted to flirt. Man, what a perv.

I only glared back at him, "please refrain from calling me sweetheart. I find it degrading as I am anything but sweet."

"So you're the bitter type huh? Well, I love a challenge." He then addressed all of us. "But if you want to land a hit on me, you'll have to be lightning fast."

He disappeared again, reappearing and disappearing in random places around us. The three of us stood back to back, ready to alert the others if he attacked from a certain position.

"This is pointless." Gray shouted in complaint.

"Nothing is pointless Gray. We're still fighting for something aren't we?" I reminded him of what we were doing.

"Don't lose your cool Gray, Ciella." Lyon ordered us.

"Don't have to remind me." I told him.

"He's coming in at four o'clock." He warned, and I saw him speeding towards us, "together we can stop him. We just need to focus."

"Gotta keep cool huh?" Gray began, a weird tone to his voice, "alright."

Suddenly, both boys turned to face the enemy, their shirts suddenly thrown away from them, revealing their very toned, muscular upper bodies.

"Fire when I give the word, and don't you dare hold back." Lyon ordered.

"Please refrain from stripping in front of me before I punch you both in the face." I warned them, and I watched as a look of confusion came over Racers face.

"Of really Ciella, I thought that you'd appreciate the view." Lyon teased.

"Oh shut it, before I hit you somewhere it'll hurt even more." I said in a low voice, watching as he sweat dropped at my comment.

Racer continued to head for us.

"There, he's in front of us and headed this way." Lyon informed.

"We've got you now." Gray shouted, "Ice-make; geyser!" He slammed his hands on the ground and sent ice shooting upwards, but Racer dodged every single wave.

"Snow Dragon!" Lyon sent his own attack. A serpentine like dragon made from ice. Ice-make Magic really is beautiful, but I had to focus. Racer had also dogged this attack to.

"Earth Dragon Wing Attack!" I sent my attack his way, but he dodged every slicer.

"No way." Gray breathed as we stood back to back once more.

"He's even faster than before." Lyon commented.

I suddenly felt a sharp pain as we were all knocked over.

"What's the matter punks?" Racers foot collided with my stomach, sending me sprawling to the ground away from the other two, "Can't keep up?"

Racer then came to a stop in between us, facing my way as I stood to my feet again.

"You can keep attacking me for eternity, but you won't land a single hit. Remember, you're dealing with the fastest man alive." He said confidently, "it been fun, but it's time for the final thrashing to begin. I'll make it as quick and painful as possible. Even for you sweetheart. I don't go easy on anyone, even women."

"I would be insulted if you did." I retorted back with a smirk. I could see the calculating look in Lyons eye, he had come up with a plan. He can be smart when he wants to be.

"Don't worry Gray, we've won." Lyon said to his friend, but his eyes glanced my way, as if asking if I could hear him from over here. And I could with my heightened sense from being a Dragon Slayer, so I nodded back to him.

"I just figured out we're gonna beat this guy." He spoke up louder, so Racer could hear him this time, trying to throw him off.

"Yeah, well, while you're coming up with your plan, I'll keep this guy distracted." Sending a losing look in Lyons direction, and he nodded back to me, knowing I'd be listening in whilst fighting, "Earth Dragons Iron Rock Fist!" I shouted out, sending a rock encased punch to Racers head.

As expected he dodged out the way, and I quickly turned before he could reappear behind me.

"Earth Dragons Talon." My rock encased kick almost hit him, but he dodged out the way in time.

"Face it sweetheart, you aren't doing to land a hit on me." He said, kicking me to the ground again.

"I thought I told you, not to call me that." I got up again, but decided to switch to the defensive and began trying to block the attacks to make it easier for me to listen in on Lyons plan.

Honestly, it was a smart plan, as he had found out the secret to Racers Magic. He wasn't really fast, he only altered our perception of speed to make it seem like he was fast. But he was just as slow as the rest of us. This plan could cause us though, mainly Lyon and I, to get quite hurt. But if it meant taking this guy down, I was willing to do it.

I was kicked to the ground once more after failing to dodge an attack that I couldn't see coming, and Racer looked to Lyon and Gray again.

"Huh? Strategise all you want, it won't do you any good." He said under his breath.

"And if all goes well, we've got him." Lyon finished explaining his plan, and letting go of Grays shoulder.

"Huh, are you out of your mind?" Gray questioned.

"Too bad," Lyon interrupted, "that's the plan." A magic circle appeared under Gray, and he was instantly encased in Lyons ice, "we'll stop him without you."

I stood from the floor once more, ready to act out.

"Hey, what are you doing? Let me go!" Gray shouted as the ice rise and lifted him up into the air, giving him the vantage point needed. Now all that was left was for me to play along with Lyons act a lead Racer away.

"Why are you freezing him like that?!" I heard Sherrys voice shout from the tree line where she had been watching the fight, waiting to help if needed.

"Quit screwing around! You guys can't take this guy on alone and you know it!" Gray shouted down to us, voice distorted and echoey due to the ice surrounding him.

"Hah, just sit back and enjoy the show." Lyon stated, "we'll finish him."

"It's time to show the real power of Lamia Scale." I spoke up, making it seem like I was agreeing with Lyon that we could take this guy out by ourselves.

"That kinda harsh," Racer said, "is that really how you treat your friends."

"If you think the two of us are friends you're sorely mistaken," Lyon stared him down, "We simply studied under the same master when we were young. That was all."

"Yeah, they're more competitors really." I continued to play along.

"Oh yeah?" Gray questioned sarcastically.

"I don't understand," Sherry called whilst running out of the forest, "we'll need his help."

"We can take him on our own," Lyon smirked, "together we will give Lamia Scale its greatest victory ever. Now let's get to work."

"Y-yeah, of course." Sherry said a little hesitantly. She'll understand soon enough, it's all part of the plan.

"I'd be careful if I were you." Racer spoke up once more, "you let your arrogance get the best of you, and you're sure to lose."

"I'm sure we could say the exact same thing to you." I retorted, glaring at him.

"But it's not like you had a chance of beating me anyway, right?"

"Now who's being arrogant." Lyon added.

Racer disappeared again. Man I'm sick of this guy. We should beat him soon though."

"Marionette Attack: Rock Doll." Sherry shouted, and her rock doll came out of the ground and punched at racer, but it was way too slow.

"That's a neat trick girlie, but it's too slow to catch me." Racer said, before sending a flurry of attacks that didn't allow the giant doll to move, "it's practically standing still."

"I can't even see him. How about this, go, Wood Doll." She jumped back, landing on the branch of the tree she had brought to life.

"Yeah, keep throwing em my way. It's completely pointless." Racer continued to taunt.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you." Sherry said venomously, before allowing the doll to send its branched forth to entrap Racer.

"Aw, you got me." He said sarcastically, before disappearing.

"There's no way he broke free." She said surprised.

"I told you sweetheart." Racer came up and kicked Sherry from behind.

Me and Lyon nodded to each other, each sending an attack to Racer, gaining his attention, before running in the opposite direction towards the forest.

"Over here slowpoke!" Lyon taunted him.

"Catch us if you can." I shouted back.

"I don't know what you're getting at pals," Racer quickly caught up with is, "but the only slowpokes here are you two."

We both skidded to a stop once inside the tree line, preparing to attack.

"Your speed counts for nothing if your attacks have no power behind them." Lyon said, getting into his Ice-Make stance, "I can prove you don't have the ability to land a decisive blow."

"Oh yeah?" Racer questioned.

"Let's see how you handle this. Ice-Make; Hedgehog." A clump of icy spikes grew from his back. Racer stopped at the sight of this. "Better not get to close or you'll end up a shish kebab."

Wow, sometimes I think it's just better to not let Lyon talk in a battle. He really comes up with the most random things. Shish kebab? Really?

"What's the matter Racer?" Lyon said as he jumped into the air, "afraid that precious speed of yours might get you skewered?"

"Don't get cocky kid." Racer braced himself on the ground, "here goes! Speed Change; Red Zone!" Suddenly, even faster than he was before, Racer jumped into the air and kicked with such a force that the spikes smashed and she sent Lyon crashing to the ground, "you're so naive. Did you think I'd use my full speed from the get go against such a weak opponent?"

With his back to me, I used the opening.

"Earth Dragon Rock Pillars!" Several pillars came up from the ground in from of him, aiming for Racer, causing him to jump back and give Lyon enough time to get up and start running again. In the distraction, I tore past Racer and joined Lyon again.

"Come get us!" Lyon shouted back, and Racer instantly appeared in front of us.

"You're on!" With that he kicked us both into the air, "where do you think you're going?" I managed to recover myself slightly.

"Earth Dragon Roar!" I shouted, sending my flurry of earth and rock at him.

He may of dodged it, but he was pushed back enough for us to land and continue running. We were almost there.

But Racer was too fast, his attacks kept coming, winding both of us. Yet we still pushed forward, we had to complete this plan. Gray was relying on us to make it to the position.

Another kick came from behind, followed by a ouch to the stomach. The same treatment was bestowed on Lyon to, except he was punched in the face as well. With this we were both sent to the ground.

"What happened to all that bravado?" Racer taunted.

However, we didn't give up. We looked to each other determinedly, before getting up and running again. Finally, once we had made it to the cliff we needed to, Lyon suddenly turned and made an attack.

"Ice-Make; Eagle."

"When you gonna realise you can't hit me?!" Racer shouted, dodging every single bird.

"Earth Dragon Rock Spikes." I cried out, sending my arm out towards amRacer, spikes protruding from the ground underneath him. As expected, he dodged all of them.

The next attack took everything out of us. He would relent from the swift kicks and blows. They came one right after the other.

"Don't tell me that all you've got?! Man what a waste of space! What happened to all the big talk from before?!" Lyon was sent down, his head hitting against a fallen tree trunk. I hit the ground to the side of him, but a both further away. I lifted my head, breathing heavily, to see Racer kneel down over him.

"You honestly believe I don't have the power to land a decisive blow?" He snapped off a large, sharp shard of ice from where one of Lyons Eagles had smashed to the ground from beside him, "why don't I show you?" He lifted the shard into the air, and bringing it down with force. I gasped, fearing for Lyons life, but Racer stopped just before the shard had plunged into Lyons exposed neck. "I don't need that power to put the breaks in this fight. As quick as I am, I could easily take you and your little girlfriend out without having to use any sort of fancy Magic."

Okay, let me protest, I am not his girlfriend.

"I mean, don't get me wrong, you've both got serious skills kids, you would've been fine if you'd never crossed paths with me. But I'm one of the Oracion Seis."

Racer continued, but I could see Lyon wasn't focused on what he was saying, but rather what was going on above him, as a group birds flew past.

"Six demons. Six prayers. Six unwavering pillars. And anyone who tries to cut us off, will pay the final toll or their disrespect. So say goodbye. To each other if you want to."

"Just as I thought," Lyon spoke up, still breathing heavily, and I could see the confused look on Racers face, "I figured out the truth of you're Magic when Gray, Ciella and I were fighting together. I looked up and noticed the birds in the distance were flying incredibly fast. You were never as fast as lightning, you just altered out perception of speed so it would seem that way."

I noticed the look of discouragement and anger on Racers face.

"Busted." I breathed out.

"You slowed us down, that's all. Once I got outside the perimeter of your magic I realised what was going on. Despite your name you're just as slow as the rest of us." Lyon continued to explain, "I thought it'd be harder to defeat you, but now that you've followed us all the way out here, Gray is now outside the perimeter of your magical and can take you down."

Racer looked up at the pillar of ice encasing Gray that stood above the canopy of the trees, to see the ice at the top shatter, freeing Gray from his hold.

"He should have a clear shot from up there."

"And he'll make sure it's on target." I added.

Racer stood and backed away from his position, "Wait," he said panicked, "so you two weren't arguing? You were giving him a sniping post."

I smirked. "That was the plan after all."

"There's no way he'll hit me from there, he's over a mile away." Racer denied. Just you wait.

"Oh, he can do it." Lyon said, sitting up from his position, " if there's one thing I've learned, it's never underestimate a member of the Fairy Tail guild."

"They can really blow you away." I continued.

"There's no stopping them." Lyon finished.

Grays arrow was fired with such force that an explosion of blue light almost blinded me as it surrounded the area. Once the smoke cleared, Racer was revealed to be lying in the dust.

Sighing in relief, I laid my head on the floor.

"You alright?" Lyon asked me, and I lifted my head to meet his gaze.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I smiled, sitting up beside him, "just tired."

"I think we both are, after all that running." I chuckled at this, he was certainly.

"Well, you know for being you, you can be smart at times." I told him in a reading tone.

He smirked playfully, "wanna say that to my face, Rock Head." He said lightly.

Laughing back, i said to him, "I believe I already did, Ice Freak."

It took a bit of time, but Gray and Sherry finally caught up to us, Sherry instantly dropping to Lyons side.

"I can't believe that actually worked." The black haired Ice-Make wizard admitted.

"I can't believe there are five more just as strong as him." Lyon replied. That was a scary thought, seeing how much we struggled with this guy, I wondered how we would defeat another five.

"In another note, could you please try and include me in your little ruse next time?" Sherry said disdainfully.

"Don't blame me, he's the ma with the plan." Gray said looking down to Lyon, who was looking back up at him to.

"Thanks." Lyon said to him.

"And can you two please put some clothes on?" I asked them, still annoyed at the fact that they were still shirtless.

They both chuckled. And I couldn't help but join in.

"Can you both stand up?" Gray suddenly asked us, holding out a hand.

"Think I'll sit a bit longer." Lyon denied the help, causing Sherry to chuckle.

"I'll gladly accept your help." I said, taking Grays hand as he helped pull me up before letting go. It took a second to steady myself, but then I noticed something that made me freeze up.

"I'VE GOT YOU NOW!" Racer shouted once he had pulled himself to his feet, pulling open his jacket to reveal a bomb Lacrima underneath, rigged to charge. We all gasped.

"IN THE NAME OF THE MIGHTY ORACION SEIS, I'M TAKING YOU TO THE BIG SLAB IN THE SKY!" The orange lights flickered on one by one, signalling the bomb was setting to go off.

"Is that what I think it is?" Lyon breathed, after Sherry had helped him to stand.

"He's rigged himself with a bomb Lacrima!" Sherry stated in panic.

"Seriously? Is he insane?" Gray asked.

"Sometimes people would do anything to take their enemies down." I stated. And sometimes people would do anything to save their friends to.

"We'll cross the finish line together!" Racer continued sadistically.

"No way." Gray said, getting into his Ice-Make stance, but stumbled as he was about to send his attack, "it's no use." He cried out, as Racer ran towards us, laughing maniacally, "I'm on empty, we're totally screwed!"

I wasn't even thinking, all I knew was that I had to save my friends. That was the only thing that mattered. I needed to protect them. So I did the only thing I could've. So I ran to meet him.

"Ciella!" I heard a voice call behind me. Was that Lyon? I'm sorry, but I have to do this to save you guys.

With all the force I had, I jumped at Racer, wrapping my arms around him, and sending us both off the cliff edge.

I guess I always knew, that my friends would be the death of me.

"No! What are you doing?" Gray shouted.

"No, Ciella, Lyon!" Sherry shouted. Why did she shout to Lyon as well?

As the beeping grew faster, I felt a pair a string arms wrap themselves around me. It was like everything as in slow motion, as I turned my head to see my friends white hair out the corner of my eye.

No, Lyon, what are you doing? I did this to save you.

Third Person P.O.V

Gray and Sherry could only watch in shock as Ciella had pushed Racer and herself off the cliff, and couldn't do anything to stop Lyon as he jumped after her. Nothing could be done, as all they heard and saw was the explosion that happened at the bottom of the cliff.

Their friends, they were dead.

Sherry stood there, her hands over her moth as she realised that she had just lost two of her closest friends, and Grays face betrayed shock, as he watched his childhood friend die.

Further into the woods, Natsu stopped in his tracks from running, the unconscious Wendy over his shoulder, and two cats slung under his arm. Iwa, who had caught up with him in the air, had stopped to, and they looked back at hearing the explosion, as well as an agonised scream of "NOOOO!"

Back on the cliff, Sherrry was on her knees, looking over the edge and crying out, "NOOOO! THIS ISN'T HAPPENING! THERES NO WAY THEY'RE GONE!"

"LYOOON!" Gray cried out at the realisation of his friends demise.

Preview

Oracion Seis Arc: Chapter 7 - Not All is as it Seems

In the wake of their friends deaths, and Nirvanas awakening, Sherry, on the border between light and dark, descends into darkness and turns on Gray. Meanwhile, what really did happen to Lyon and Ciella? Not all is as it may seem to be in this fight.


	8. Chapter 8

"Lyon." Gray breathed, not believing that his old friend was dead. "Ciella."

"No." Sherry cried, "Are they- How could this happen?"

"They would never give up that easily," Gray convinced himself, making an icy slide that reached to the bottom of the cliff, "let's find them." He quickly jumped down the slide, in search to find both of them.

"Lyon, Ciella. They're gone forever." Sherry continued to sob, before a dark look came over her face, "somebody's gotta pay."

Deeper into the forest in different locations, Jura had come to face down the Oracion Seis member Hoteye, a Mage that uses earth Magic to. And Natsu had returned to Lucy, Hibiki and Erza, who was only falling into a worse state. He quickly woke up Wendy, who panicked and apologised for what Brain made her do, but he was willing to overlook it, if she saved Erza's life. With that, Wendy quickly got to the task of healing their friend.

As with what Wendy had done, the recently revived by Wendy's healing Magic, Jellal Fernandez, once an enemy of Erza, Natsu, Gray and Lucy, was now walking through the forest, towards a large purple emanating light. This was the sealed away state of Nirvana.

But he wasn't alone.

I don't know what it is about this guy, but I can't hear his inner voice, Cobra thought to himself as he was hid out of sight behind a group of rocks, if I could, I wouldn't have to follow him around and spy on him like this.

Suddenly, Jellal came to a stop and stared up at a large tree with chains hanging from it, that had a purple glow emo mating from the trunk.

"I know the Woodsea well," Cobra said to himself, "But I've never seen this place before." Then a look of realisation came across his face, and he smirked, "Looks like brain was onto something, could this be where Nirvana is sealed?"

Then Jellal placed his hand on the trunk, and the glow got brighter, and smoke was released. As Cobra laughed, a strange column of light was shot up into the sky. This weapon, had the ability to turn light into darkness.

At last, we've found it, our future! Cobra shouted in his head.

The light was mixed with a black glow, and swirls of black smoke were sent out over the canopy of the forest.

From their different positions throughout the forest, everyone could see the dark light that had just appeared.

"That beam of light but shot up out of nowhere!" Gray said, and arm across his face to try and keep shielding from the bright glow, "Oh no, don't tell me they've already found Nirvana?!"

From behind him, Sherry looked up at the boy, with a wide eyed, dark look in her eye. Being on the verge of light and darkness itself, Nirvana is sure to have an influence on her.

In the entrance of their hideout, Brain and the recently woken up Midnight watched on.

"So it happened?" Midnight commented.

"Yes," Brain spoke up, "Nirvana, is ours."

Midnight turned his head to his leader whilst saying, "congratulations are in order. Now if you'll excuse me there are some pesky guild wizards I need to eliminate. Don't wait up for me. You should go to the light, father."

Back with Gray and Sherry, Gray was lifting up fallen tree logs out of the way, in search of Lyon and Ciella.

"I know they've got to be around here somewhere."

A dark aura surrounded Sherry, as she thought to herself, someone's gotta pay for what happened to my friend and my love.

"WHERE ARE YOU YOU?! ANSWER ME LYON! CIELLA!" Gray shouted out into the area, but received no answer, "HEY! CAN YOU HEAR ME?! LYON!"

Suddenly, Sherrys eyes widened as they landed on Gray.

He's the one.

Jura and Hoteye's battle had been interrupted due the revelation of Nirvanas wake.

"What happened?" Jura asked, "what's that light?"

"It's Nirvana! Oh yeah!" Hoteye cheered, and Jura turned back to him, "There's no reason for you to get worked up, its main operation hasn't been activated yet. The light simply means its seal has been broken. It's also a sign that we're about to rolling in dough. Oh yeah!" Hoteye explained before laughing to himself childishly.

Fighting this buffoon would be a waste of my time, on the other hand, defeating the Oracion Seis is the sole purpose of our mission. Should I stay here and fight? Or should I go stop Nirvana? Jura thought to himself, internally battling with himself on what to do, and a look of angry distress came into his face.

"Money! MONEY! WE'RE ABOUT TO BECOME INCREDIBLY WEALTHY!" Hoteye shouted, throwing his arms into the air.

Until his eyes widened and he let out noises of struggling and distress. Jura looked confused as he stood there and watched as Hoteye let out a scream, covering his eyes with his hands.

His own eyes then widened.

"What has gotten into him?" He questioned to himself.

After the wake of Nirvana, Natsu ran off in search of Jellal. Erza, who had woken up and suddenly disappeared. Due to the nature of Nirvanas Magic, Hibiki knocked out Wendy, who was blaming herself for the resurrection of Jellal, therefore blaming herself for unlocking Nirvana, so she wouldn't fall prey to the darkness. As Hibiki explained to Lucy, Carla, Iwa and Happy the effect of Nirvanas Magic, Gray had continued searching relentlessly for Lyon and Ciella. But Sherry had summoned a multitude of think vines, her gaze never releasing itself from Gray, who hadn't noticed the change in the woman behind him.

"I feel like a dummy!" Happy exclaimed, "nothing you say makes any sense to me."

"It's actually simple if you think about it." Iwa spoke up to him.

"That's because you are a dummy." Carla intervened, "allow me to spell it out for you, now that Nirvanas seal is broken, it has the power to turn good hearts evil. And those with evil hearts good. Do you get it now blockhead?"

Behind Sherry, her vines had formed into one of her dolls, and the dark look in her eye only grew. Nirvana had effected her because of her need to blame someone for the death of her friends, and there was only one other person around. The negative emotions inside her had caused her good heart to turn evil.

"If only that person didn't exist. Whose fault is it that I'm in pain. Why does this always happen to me? These pessimistic thoughts can attract Nirvana and allow it to take control." Hibiki explained.

Gray was surprised when he suddenly was grabbed from behind by a multitude of vines. "What the-" he cried out as the vibes lifted him into the air and tightened their grip. He groaned in pain as he get himself being squeezed by the vines that were tied around him.

The vines let him go as he fell unconscious, and Sherry only stared into t a blank space in front of her.

"I have avenged you my beloved, sweet Lyon. Both you and Ciella." She said in a dark tone, "who shall be my next victim? One of his friends? Another member of the Fairy Tail guild?"

Hoteye was still holding his head and screaming in pain.

"Money! Money! Money! Money!" He kept repeating over and over.

"It's as if he's been possessed." Jura exclaimed in confusion.

"Moneyyyyyyy" Hoteye screamed out, before sharply bringing his head back to face Jura, a sparkling look in his eye, "is the root of all evil. Oh yeah!"

Juras eyes widened comically, "that's not what you said just a minute ago-"

"You see," Hoteye began to explain whilst crying, "I've been desperately searching for my long lost younger brother. And I thought if I accumulated enough money, I'd be able to find him. Oh yeah. However, I now realise it was foolish of me to think that way. I was wrong."

"Huh?" Jura gasped, his eyes still widened at Hoteye's outburst.

"Jura! Why don't we bury the hatchet and become friends! Oh yeah!" Hoteye cried out, "the world around us is overflowing with love. Oh yeah! Filled to bursting with such sweet compassion. Anything is possible when you have the power of love on your side. Oh yeah!"

He lunged at Jura, pulling him into a tight hug whilst still crying.

"What do you say we work together to put an end to my former comrades plans? We must reach them the wonders of peace, love and harmony. Are you with me?"

Jura was speechless, until he managed to gasp out, "Yeah... Sure."

He was extremely confused with Hoteye's sudden change of attitude.

Eve was desperately running through the forest, firing his snow attacks behind him desperately. He and Ren had decided to split, as they hadn't yet known that Wendy was rescued. Eve had gone off to look for her, whilst Rem headed off to Nirvana.

But that was when Eve ran into one of the Oracion Seis. Suddenly, he was knocked to the ground and the dust cleared to reveal Midnight standing behind him.

"One down and eight to go." Midnight accounted.

"Man, he's so much stronger than me. My magics useless against him." Eve muttered fearfully, after seeing the extent of what Midnights Magic was.

"Hey," Midnight said, walking up and looking down on Eve, "you still alive down there?"

Eve groaned and tried to get to his knees, but all that was heard from him next was a terrified scream, and Midnight saying darkly, "I love watching my prey suffer."

"So whenever Nirvana is fully activated, everybody in the alliance could suddenly turn evil?" Lucy said to Hibiki as they ran through the forest in search of Natsu, Wendy held up on Hibikis back and the cats flying through the air beside them.

"I have one question." Happy spoke up seriously, "I understand the part about it turning us evil, but does that mean it'll turn the dark guild guys good?"

"It's possible," Hibiki said, "but there's no way of knowing for sure. What makes Nirvana truly terrifying is the fact that it can be controlled to do whatever the castor sees fit."

"What?" Lucy questioned.

"Let me explain," Hibiki began again, "let's say that a wizard was to use Nirvana against a guild, they could have the members start killing each other. Or make them go to war with another guild for no reason. And they barely have to lift a finger."

"Seriously?" Lucy said fearfully.

"We've gotta find a way to stop it and fast. Otherwise, the light guilds will be wiped out."

Hibiki, Lucy and the cats had finally caught up to Natsu, to see him on a raft in the river, suffering from his motion sickness, and Gray standing over him with a spear of ice.

But they quickly discerned that it wasn't Gray. But it was Gemini. Soon after, Angel appeared before them, and they discovered that she too was a Celestial Wizard. The fight was tough on Lucy, as Angel had the advantage of knowing how the celestial spirits related to each other, knowledge Lucy did not have.

Aquarius was quickly subdued as Angel summoned Scorpio, Aquarius' boyfriend, and they quickly disappeared off together. Then when Lucy brought Loke, or rather Leo the lion, the leader of the zodiac spirits, forth, Angel had her trump card. She was the one who killed Karen Lilica of Blue Pegasus, Loke's former contractor, and as such, gained all of Karen spirits with the exception of Loke, as he was banished from the celestial spirit world as it was seen he was the one responsible for Karen's death. That was the punishment for a celestial spirit who broke one of their laws. In gaining Karen's spirits, Angel summoned Aries to fight, a dear friend of Loke's who he had protected from Karen's mistreatment.

Despite the two of them being friends, they still fought against each other for their contractors. Angel, not seeing this coming, summoned one of her silver keys, Caelum the chisel. She ordered the spirit to shoot Loke and Aries, sending back to the Celestial Spirit World. Lucy was being beaten, and was almost killed by Gemini.

But Gemini, hearing in Lucy's head and thoughts of how much she loved her spirits. She treated them as friends and not toys or shields. They refused to kill her, which made Angela get, and she dismissed them. Hibiki, who had been on the edge of dark and light after hearing that Angel had been the one to kill Karen, a former friend of his, seemed like he was going to kill Lucy, but instead used his archive to upload spells into Lucy's head. She used one of them, Urano Metria, to finally defeat Angel.

Being defeated, Angel revealed her prayer. To vanish into the sky, like an Angel, pure as white. Lucy, trying to get Natsu off of the raft, had got dragged down the current with him, down the river. They were sent over the edge of the waterfall, leaving behind Hibiki, the cats and Angel.

Further into the forest, Ren had also come to face Midnight, but as the same with Eve, he was easily defeated, Midnights Magic being too powerful for him to combat against.

Erza was running through the forest, required back into her usual armour. She had overheard Natsu mention Jellal, and was trying to find him.

As the sun was setting, Wendy and Carla were talking on a hill away from the battle that we're going on, and Wendy revealed to her feline friend her past with Jellal, and how he had looked after her and they had travelled together after Wendy's dragon had disappeared. She then told her how Jellal had to go off on his own, and that it was too dangerous for Wendy. He left her at the Cait Shelter guild which had resided in a small secluded village, the residence made up of only the guild members. She never saw him again after that. But the Jellal from Wendy's past isn't who it may seem. And Cait Shelter isn't wal hat it may seem either.

Natsu and Lucy had woken up on the shore, wearing different sets of clothes that Lucy's spirit. Virgo had provided them with whilst the were unconscious. They had seen that they were closer to the light of Nirvana, but it changed colour, looking a stark white against the red sky from the sunset. A rustling in the bushes was heard though, startling them, and Sherry emerged, her eyes looking dead.

"Sherry!" Lucy called out, "I'm glad you're alright, but did you have to scare me?"

"Hey I know you," Natsu muttered, a thoughtful look on his face, "weren't you on Bigtuna Island? Where are the dog and the dude with the eyebrows." He said, referring to Sherrys friends Toby and Yuka.

"It was Galuna Island and you've seen her since then." Lucy argued back at Natsus forgetful and dense nature.

"It's all your fault," Sherry said quietly, coming to a stop in front of them, "You Fairy Tail member are to blame."

"Excuse me?" Lucy questioned.

Sherry laughed, and hands made out of the wood from the trees reached out to grab the two Fairy Tail wizards. But icy spikes came up out of the ground and stopped them.

"I've had enough of you!" Gray shouted, running out of the forest and putting his arm around Sherrys neck, and shoving her to the ground.

"Is she okay?" Lucy asked, looking concerned.

"I think she might be possessed." Gray said, looking up at his two friends whilst still holding Sherry down.

"Get off of me." She screeched from under his hold, "you'll pay for what you did to my love and my best friend. You'll never leave this forest."

"She's been acting strange since that light showed up." Gray explained, "have you seen anything weird?"

Natsu looked at him angrily, "Yeah I owe you a kick in the teeth for that trick you pulled."

"Huh?" Gray said confused at what Natsu was meaning.

"Natsu that wasn't really Gray back there." Lucy tried to calm him.

"You won't escape me," Sherry shouted again, "I swear on my life I'll avenge them."

"Avenge us for what exactly?" A familiar smooth voice called from the tree line.

Sherry and Gray gasped at seeing two familiar figures.

"I would've thought you had more faith in us than that." The other figure spoke up.

"Is it really you?" Sherry breathed out in relief.

"Of course, they're a whole lot tougher than they look." Gray said to her, letting her go.

Ciella's P.O.V (flashback)

With all the force I had, I jumped at Racer, wrapping my arms around him, and sending us both off the cliff edge.

I guess I always knew, that my friends would be the death of me.

"No! What are you doing?" Gray shouted.

"No, Ciella, Lyon!" Sherry shouted. Why did she shout to Lyon as well?

As the beeping grew faster, I felt a pair a strong arms wrap themselves around me. It was like everything as in slow motion, as I turned my head to see my friends white hair out the corner of my eye.

No, Lyon, what are you doing? I did this to save you.

Lyon reached his arm past me, encased in ice with a sharp edge, and cut the bomb from Racers torso. But it wouldn't be enough to get us away from the blast. Gathering my thoughts quickly, I focused and encased the three of us in a protective rock covering. Sandwiched between the two of them, I heard and felt the impact of the explosion outside the protective casing. After a couple of seconds I felt us hit the ground before rolling to stop, the rock crumbling away, but the blast was still heading towards us, as it was larger than we thought. Lyon quickly put up a shield of ice in from of us, preventing the blast from coming any further.

I tried to get up, but I had used a lot of my Magic energy creating that barrier around us, and I had already drained quite a lot today as well, using Earth Sense three times as well as fighting against Racer. Not being able to help it, I collapsed on the ground as the explosion dissipated.

"Ciella." I heard Lyons panicked voice, and felt myself get rolled into my back. Looking up, I saw his blurry image kneeling over me, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I answered weakly, closing my eyes, "I just need to rest for a bit."

The last thing I heard before falling unconscious was Lyon muttering under his breath, "you're such an idiot."

Third Person P.O.V

Sighing, Lyon stood and wobbled slightly, before bending down and picking Ciella up, slinging her over his shoulder. She was much lighter than he originally thought, but that would just make her easy to carry.

He then walked over and grabbed the collar of the unconscious Racers jacket, and dragging him further into the forest, to get them away from the smoke of the explosion. Finding an alright spot to rest and recover himself, and unceremoniously dropped Racer to the ground, before gently placing Ciella down onto the ground, making sure she wasn't uncomfortable. She looked utterly exhausted and beat up, hair messier than usual, her black vest was torn, exposing her abdomen, scrapes and bruises all over her arms and stomach from Racers hits. The edges of her blue open fronted waistcoat vest were frayed, and her knee high socks had numerous holes in them. The edges of her shorts were ripped and her boots her worn out. He had to admit that he'd never seen her as beat up as this, but it was a tough fight for the both of them.

Looking around the small clearing, he spotted a flash of white. Going I'ver to investigate, he found his jacket that he had lost earlier, but how did it get all the way out here. He wasn't going to question it, and shrugged it on, leaving only his chest and torso revealed.

Sitting himself down against the trunk of tree near Ciella's sleeping form, he thought back to how she didn't even hesitate in shoving herself at Racer and sending them off the cliff. He didn't even know why he had jumped after her, he just knew that he couldn't let his friend die. No matter how many times they argued or got into fights, he still cared for her. She was his friend after all. But thinking back to her doing that, and risking her life to save them, he couldn't help but being up the memories of other times she had done that. It seems to be a recurring thing. Every time they were on a job and found themselves in serious trouble, Ciella would always be the one to instantly risk her life to protect them. Though she's never done something with this high a chance of her actually dying, he still wanted to know why she did it.

Ciella's P.O.V

My eyes fluttered open, and the first thing I noticed was the sun was setting. The second thing I noticed was that i was in a different place than before, I could no longer see the cliff we had just jumped off. The third thing was that Racer was lying unconscious a few metres away. The final thing was that Lyon was staring down at me, seeing that I was awake.

I groaned in pain, holding my head as I sat up. That's fight really took it out of me.

"Why must you be so stupid?" I heard Lyons voice reverberate into my ears.

I glared up at him, not really in the mood for him staring a fight, "Nows really not the best time to be starting a fight Lyon." I told him.

"I'm not trying to start a fight. I'm simply asking a question. Why must you be so stupid?" He retorted.

"And what exactly does that mean?"

A silence fell over the two of us, neither of us saying anything, until Lyon broke it by sighing.

"I'm talking about you always doing something like this." I looked up to him in confusion, wondering what he was meaning, "I mean you risking your life like that. Every single job we go on that has ended up with us getting into serious trouble, you're always the one that has put your life at risk to save the rest of us. It was no different on that cliff, except that this time there was a very high possibility of you dying. I want to know why you do it. Why you're always the one to risk your own life without even thinking."

He was getting louder as he went on, taking on a more demanding tone in his voice. I sighed and looked down, crossing my legs.

"Why do you care now? It's not like you've ever said anything about it in the past." I said bitterly.

Looking up into his eyes, a moment of tension passed between us, before he was the one to look away.

"Because you could have actually died this time. And I don't want to lose you." He paused for a moment, "no matter how many times we may argue or get into fights, that doesn't dispel the fact that you've become one of my closest friends, and I care about you. So please, tell me why you do it. I want to know."

The silence befell the area around us again, before I lifted my knees up and hugged them to body.

"Let me ask you something Lyon, what do you see when you look at me?"

He gave a startle look before asking, "what's that got to do with it?"

"Just answer it Lyon. When you first met me, first got to know me, what exactly did you see?"

There was slight pause before Lyon answered, "I saw someone who may have seemed distant at first, but was actually caring once you got to know her. I saw a powerful wizard who never let her friends go-"

"There you have it." I interrupted him.

"What?"

"'A powerful wizard'. That's what people think of about me. People who have only seen me a the student of the wizard Saint Jura, they've thought that the student of him must be extremely powerful if he's the one teaching her. But they don't know what I was like before I came to Lamia Scale."

"What does that mean?" I looked up at him to see the curious look in his eye.

"I haven't always been this way," I began, "when I was younger, and first had the dragon Lacrima implanted in me, it was supposed to give me the power of a Dragon Slayer. But the thing is, I had trouble harnessing and controlling that power. I found that I could never use it at will."

"So you had trouble with using magic? What's that got to do with it?" Lyon questioned. I looked away, distantly remembering what happened.

"Everything." I continued to explain, "because I could never use my own Magic to defend myself, my brother was always the one that had to protect me after our foster father Metalicana disappeared. Every time we ran into trouble, he'd always be the one risking his life to protect me. And I could never return the favour. All because my magic was both difficult to use and unpredictable."

I paused before finishing the story, "there's the answer to your question. I risk my life because I want to protect those I care about, because I couldn't help protect my brother when I was younger. It's my way of redeeming that. I care about all of you. You, Sherry, Toby, Yuka, and Jura. I want to be there for all of you because I don't want any of you to die. So there you have it."

"I see." Was all he said, before silence fell over us again, neither of us willing to break it. Until Lyon was the perpetrator once more by standing up, and holding a hand out to me.

"Come on, we should get moving to find the others." I nodded and took his hand, allowing him to help me to my feet. But I had my own question, which I voiced as he turned around to head towards Racer who still lay on the floor.

"Wait, now that I've answered your question, I want you to answer mine."

He stopped in his tracks and turned his head to the side to look back at me.

"What is it?"

"Why did you jump after me?"

He was silent for a while, before speaking up.

"I wanted to make sure you didn't die."

I looked at him, feeling tears well up slightly.

"You may be willing to risk your life for us, but have you ever thought about how it would affect us if you did die one of these days? We would all grieve. We would never be the same, because we all care about you to. None of us would want you to die for us. We're all there for each other, and don't you forget that." I lowered my head, feeling a stray tear leave a snap path running down my face.

Running up to Lyon, I wrapped my arms around his torso, not even caring about his reaction. He stiffened slightly as I leaned into his back.

"You're a good friend Lyon. Thank you." I whispered quietly.

I felt him relax, before I felt a warm hand place itself over one of my own.

"No, I should be thanking you. All of you. You, Sherry, Yuka and Toby have all shown me how important friends are. I'd do anything for any of you."

We stood like that for a bit of time, before I let my arms release Lyon, and he turned to me, placing his hands on my shoulders.

"Don't you dare ever do something as stupid as that again."

I nodded, letting my head fall.

"Come on," he said, turning and grabbing the back of Racers jacket, "let's go find the others now."

I followed him, smiling, before saying, "first, let me find a decent rock to eat."

And soon enough, after I had gained some energy back from eating the rock, we found who we were looking for.

"It was closer than we'd care to admit," Lyon began to explain to them, "even after I put some distance between us and the bomb, it took everything we had to keep the blast at bay."

"It took us both a while to recover."

"It sounds as if you two had as rough a time as we did." Lucy commented.

"Wow Natsu, where'd you find that getup?" Lyon teased, noticing the change of clothes Natsu had been provided with, a blue shirt with yellow strips on it, a white sash around his hips and orange trousers. And of am course his scaly scarf was still around his neck.

Well, at least I know he's back to his normal self.

"Why?! You jealous?!" Natsu shouted in annoyance.

"I seriously doubt that's the case." Lucy commented.

That's when Sherry collapsed, tears in her eyes, and mumbling something about love. Black smoke then rose out of her body.

"Woah what's that?" Natsu asked.

"I told you guys she seemed like she was possessed." Gray answered.

Oh Sherry, what did you get yourself into?

"No kidding," Lucy mumbled, before looking at the white light in the distance, "we're running out of time."

She was right. We needed to stop the Oracion Seis. And soon to.

Preview

Oracion Seis Arc: Chapter 8 - Nirvanas Wake

The allied forces must continue to work together to take down the rest of the Oracion Seis members. Half of them have been defeated, and only three remain. Or so they thought. And as Nirvanas final stages true form is revealed, it's a race against time to destroy it, before it reaches its target. The Cait Shelter guild.


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey, have any of you seen Iwa?" I asked, noticing the absence of my furry little partner.

"Well, she was with us until me and Natsu got separated from Hibiki and the others. I don't know where she is now." Lucy explained.

"Oh, okay."

"I'm sure she's fine Ciella. We both know that Iwa can take care of herself." Lyon spoke up as he picked Sherry up from where she lay on the ground.

"Yeah, you're right. Iwa can look after herself." I reassured myself.

But then the air around us changed. And suddenly, the light grew bigger, now a mixture of white and black light. It's changed, Nirvana is getting worse. Is this what it's truly like? The smell was disgusting, a dangerous smell that was giving me a warning.

"So our mission was a failure?" Lyon questioned.

"No way!" Natsu shouted incredulously.

"Hope it's not as bad as it looks."Gray breathed.

"For some reason I get the feeling that it is." I said back, my eyes widening at the sight before us. A foreboding feeling came with it.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure it is!" Lucy shouted in panic.

"And once again Erza is right in the middle of it." Gray told us. Wait, she was in the middle of all that.

"Seriously?"

"This is the most dangerous thing I've ever smelled!" Natsu shouted out. So he could smell it to. I wasn't the only one.

I got a sense of something faint, so I placed my palm on the ground to try and get a better feel of it.

"Ciella, you aren't using Earth Sense again are you?" Lyon said worriedly.

"No, that's only to trace people, I'm just getting a better feel of earth. I thought I felt something." I let my voice trail off. The vibrations were getting larger, this wasn't good, "Somethings coming." I warned the others, "Something very large, massive even. Brace yourselves."

I opened my eyes and stood, just as the rumblings in the ground began. They continued as something seemed to be rising out of the ground.

"Oh great! Now what's going on?!" Natsu shouted in surprise.

"I don't know what it is, but it's everywhere!" Gray continued on as they tried to maintain their balance.

"Do you think this is Nirvana?" Lucy asked in fear.

"It doesn't seem like magic to me." Lyon commented.

"I do think these rumblings have some connection to Nirvana. In getting a foreboding feeling, like a warning. Something big is about to happen." I said myself.

"Why is everything shaking?"

"Get a hold of yourself man." Gray replied to Natsu.

"Here comes that really bad feeling again." Lucy squealed.

This was not good. The shaking was getting much worse. Something was coming from underneath us.

"You said it."

And something did come, we lifted far into the air.

"I TOLD YOU!" I heard Lucy scream.

But from the position I was in, I was thrown farther the the others, and I almost fell off the thing if my friend hadn't come in time.

I felt a couple of paws on my shirt, and looked up to see Iwa holding onto me, keeping me in the air with Aera Magic.

"Iwa!" I exclaimed happily, glad to see my partner was okay.

"You might want to take a look at this." She said, flying me farther up into the air. I looked down, and my eyes widened in horror. It was huge, had six legs coming out of it like an insect. The spherical body held an ancient looking town on the top, that looked to be crumbling. Was this... Nirvana?

"Take me back to the others." I told her, and she quickly flew me back down near the ground.

"Where are they?" Iwa asked.

I looked around, searching for anyone I recognised. Finally, I spotted Lyon carrying Sherry near the tree line, at the bottom of one of the legs.

"Down there Iwa." I said pointing down to the two. She quickly flew me down and we came to land, Lyon looking my way as I did.

"What's happening, where are the others?" I asked him.

"Natsu, Gray and Lucy got caught on one of that things legs, and they continued on. I'm taking care of Sherry and thinking about trying to regroup with the guys from Bkue Pegasus. I think you should stay with us." He explained to me.

Looking back up at what I thought to be Nirvana, I decided there was something I needed to do. There was a likelihood that he was up there.

"No, I have to go up there. I have to find out if Jura's alright and there are still members of the Oracion Seis that we have to defeat." I told him.

"But you've used up way to much Magic energy today Ciella." He said worriedly.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. You just think about getting Sherry out of here. She's vulnerable in this state." With that, Iwa lifted me back in the air.

"Alright, just don't do anything stupid."

"I won't."

Iwa flew me back up in the air, but that was wen my eyesight spotted something in the distance on the next leg over.

"Iwa, fly me over their!" I pointed to the figures I saw in the distance. Two familiar figures, one of them being very familiar to me.

"Alright."

In a short amount of time we had neared what I had spotted, and it turns out I was correct in guessing who the figures were.

"Jura!" I shouted out to my mentor, as Iwa landed and let me go.

"Ciella." He gasped at seeing me, "Glad to see you are okay."

"I'm glad to see you are to," I told him, before turning to face the other figure, "but do you mind me asking what you're doing with him?"

Standing with Jura was the member of the Oracion Seis, Hoteye. The one obsessed with money.

"Jura and I have formed a bond of brotherly love. Oh yeah!" Hoteye stated, and I looked to Jura in confusion.

"Care to explain?"

"He switched sides after Nirvana was released."

"Ah." I said in realisation, and turned back to Hoteye who had a smile on his face, "well, welcome to the team Hoteye."

"We should go. We must find a way to destroy Nirvana." Jura ordered.

"Iwa, you mind scouting ahead?" I asked.

"No. Not at all Ciel. I'll come act to you with anti formation." She flew off in the direction we were about to head, reaching the small city faster. With that, we ran up the leg we were on, heading for the central body. But we hadn't been running for long time when the leg we were on suddenly moved. Oh no, don't tell me this thing was a vehicle? That meant. My stomach flipped inside out, and I stopped and groaned, bringing a hand to my mouth. Oh great, now was not the time for my motion sickness to be playing up.

"Ciella, are you okay." Jura turned back with a worried look.

"I'm fine, you guys go ahead, I'll catch up." I said through gritted teeth.

"Are you sure."

"Just go, we need to destroy this thing quickly."

I watched as he hesitantly turned to start running in the direction the had been heading. Letting my head drop, I took a moment to gather myself and try to calm my stomach. No, this wasn't a vehicle, it was just something that was moving, like an animal. I never have a problem with Iwa carrying me, but that's because I don't think of her as a vehicle. That's what I needed to do here. Think of it not as a vehicle.

After a while, I found my stomach to be settling slightly, even with the thing still pressing forward in an unknown direction. Time to catch up now, I needed to regroup with Jura and Horeye again. But how do I find them, this thing wasn't concerted as part of the earth, so I couldn't use Earth Sense to find the nearest group of two.

Looks like I'll just have to do this the old fashioned way.

But just as I reached the edge of the city, I happened to look in the direction it was travelling in. This direction... If it continues to travel this way, then it's heading for the Cait Shelter guild. But if it's heading there, why? Why are the Oracion Seis targeting Cait Shelter? There's no time to think of that now. The only way we can stop them from reaching there, is to stop this thing, and that's exactly what we're going to do.

Third Person P.O.V

Natsu, who had also been struggling with his motion sickness and almost fallen off of Nirvanas true form, but was quickly saved as Happy had caught him. Being flown up into the air, he saw Nirvana for the first time. And then quickly caught a familiar scent. Quickly he attacked, hoping to take out Brain who had gained control over Nirvana by destroying the self destruction seal an amnesiac Jellal had placed on the magic.

But Cobra had quickly intervened. His snake, Cubellios had revealed that she had wings, and Cobra engaged Natsu in an aerial battle. He revealed to the fire dragon slayer that he can hear his movements before he could even make them. No one knows what the outcome of this battle will be, if either Cobra or Natsu would claim victory. Only time can tell.

In another direction at the edge of the city, Wendy and Carla had stopped as Carla had exhausted herself by flying all the way to Nirvana from their previous position. But that's when Carla realised the direction that the weapon was moving in. They were headed towards the Cait Shelter guild. Their home.

Night had finally befallen the Wizards still battling in the Worth Woodsea, and Gray and Lucy had finally found themselves atop Nirvana after Natsu left them to fight Cobra.

" So, any idea what this place is?" Gray asked Lucy as they came to the ancient city on top of Nirvana.

"You mean aside from ruins on the back of a giant monster? No clue." Lucy answered back, looking around.

"I thought Nirvana was some kind of powerful Magic," Gray mused, "Not a bunch of broken down buildings and rubble."

"If it's a city, what happened to the people?" Lucy wondered.

"An excellent question." They heard a voice from behind them, "Oh yeah! This is the mystical city of Nirvana."

Turning around, they found Jura and Hoteye standing behind them.

"And seeing you here puts the odds in our favour." Jura stated, a small smile on his face.

"That's the guy from Lyons guild." Gray said referring to Jura.

"And that's one of the Oracion Seis!" Lucy referred to Hoteye.

"What the heck!" They both said at the same time.

"There's no need to worry, Hoteye is now our faithful ally." Jura reassured gesturing to the man standing next to him.

"He is?" Gray questioned unbelievably.

"All you need is love! Oh yeah!" Hoteye exclaimed out of nowhere.

"No way!" The two shouted, before Lucy whispered to Gray, "Isn't this the who always screamed money this and money that before?"

"Yeah I think so, baldie must've beaten some sense into him, Huh?" Gray replied.

"We were about to duke it out when he had a change of heart." Jura explained.

"Ahhh, we just went through the same thing with Sherry." Gray revealed to him, remembering the fight he had with Sherry earlier after she had succumbed to Nirvanas influence, "except she definitely changed for the worst."

"Yeah, lady love pretty much went psycho on us there for a bit." Lucy continued on.

"What?" Jura asked, worried for his guild mate, "is she okay, where is she?"

"Relax, she's safe with Lyon." Gray reassured him.

"On the subject of my guild mates," Jura began, looking around to see if his student had turned up yet, but not seeing anything, "have either of you seen Ciella or Iwa. We were seperated and she said she'd catch up with us, but I haven't seen her since. Iwa hast come back from scouting either. I'm worried."

Gray had an apologetic look on his face and told him, "sorry, the last time we saw her was when we were with Lyon and Sherry. After Nirvana appeared in this form, she just disappeared."

Jura sighed, "okay, thanks anyway.

I'm sure she'll turn up."

"As I was saying," Hoteye piped up again, "this city is where the ancient Nirvits once resided, and prospered. Oh yeah!"

"Never heard of the Nirvits." Lucy said, curiosity in her voice.

"I can't say I'm surprised as there's no record of them," Hoteye continued to explain, "the lived 400 years ago at a time when the world was engulfed in war. The Nirvits tried to remain neutral but the bloodshed was such that they became compelled to intervene. They created a type of Magic that would restore balance to the world. Oh yeah."

"Don't tell me, that Magic was..." Lucy breathed, and hand held to her face in thought.

"Nirvana." Hoteye answered, "a powerful spell capable enough of switching light and darkness. So confident were they of their creation that they named it after their homeland, a word synonymous with peace. Oh yeah."

"So this city of ruins," gray began to ask. "Is actually Nirvana itself?" Lucy finished.

"Man talk about irony." Gray spoke up in distaste.

"Huh?" Lucy questioned.

"Nirvana was given its name in hopes that it would bring peace. Now it's fallen into the hands of someone who'll use it to bring nothing but destruction."

"Jeez, I'm all for balance and that but why couldn't they just make Nirvana turn darkness into light then we wouldn't even be in this mess." Lucy said angrily.

"Well it can't be helped now," Jura finally spoke up, "I doubted the ancients ever considered their creation might one day be used for evil. Criminals can find the dark side of even the most constructive of magics."

A pause came over the group, as they all took the information in.

"In any case, now that it has been activated, Nirvana poses a clear and present threat to the entire world. We must do everything in our power to destroy it. Oh yeah."

"That sounds like a plan to me," Gray replied to Hoteye's statement, and Lucy made a noise of agreement.

"Now what?" He asked, as they saw fire light up a circle around the tall tower like building in the centre of the city.

"They're lighting up?" Lucy stated.

"This must be Brains work, oh yeah." Hoteye began once more, looking up at the top of the tower, "knowing him, he's most likely controlling Nirvana from the Royal Throne located in the city's heart. Luckily for us, he's unable to use any other Magic while doing so. It's the perfect time to strike, oh yeah."

"If he's driving this thing, is he taking it anywhere specific?" Gray asked.

"I would wager that he is. Sadly Brain did not share the particulars of his plan with the rest of us."

"Not true." An unfamiliar voice called out from behind them, and they turned to see the missing member of the Oracion Seis standing on a building above them. Midnight, "father didn't trust the rest of you enough to tell you."

"Hello Midnight." Hoteye greeted seriously, looking up to the man who was once one of his previous comrades.

"He's one of the Oracion Seis." Gray spoke up.

"He's the creep who's always napping." Lucy continued.

"You betrayed us." Midnight continued to talk in a smooth, dark tone, as he jumped down from the building, before seemingly appearing in the alley next to another, "I didn't think you had the guts."

"I haven't betrayed anyone." Hoteye claimed.

"Oh?" Midnight appeared in a different alley.

"I've come to realise the errors of Brains misguided ways."

"What was that?" Midnights tone darkened even further, and he appeared behind Gray and Lucy, "why don't you come over here and say that big guy?"

"Who's he doing that?" Lucy asked.

"Hang on, what's all this 'father' stuff about anyway?" Gray gave his own question.

"A family that slays together?" Lucy offered.

"I say he is misguided as he truly believes a persons heart can be changed with Magic. But only love has the power of making even the weakest of hearts become strong." Hoteye explained his beliefs to Midnight, who only gave a short, "hm," in reply.

Suddenly, his eyes narrowed, before widening and focusing on the four people in from of him.

As the smoke cleared from the ground, Jura, Gray and Lucy were revealed to be knocked over. The three of them had were in a small crater that had been sunken into the ground.

"Anyone know what just happened?" Gray asked.

"Hoteye liquified te ground so we wouldn't get hit." Jura realised, "it was so fast I barely saw it."

"There's no time to waste, get to the Royal throne as quickly as possible. I'll stay behind and take care of Midnight, but you needn't worry about me. All members of the Oracion Seis are equal in power."

"You really think you're a match for me?" Midnight claimed, flipping the small beaded strand of his white hair out of his face.

Hoteye sent a liquified earth attack towards Midnight, who only swept his hand in front of him, dissipating the entire attack.

"Who knew the Oracion Seis would turn on each other?" Gray commented.

"Well, dark guilds aren't exactly all about peace and harmony." Lucy replied.

"Be careful Hoteye." Jura warned his newfound friend.

"I will. Now go. Quickly. Also," he turned his head towards Jura, "I would prefer it if you didn't call me that anymore. The name's Richard. Oh yeah."

"Thank you Richard."

The other two only stood and watched with shocked expressions as the smoke cleared around Midnight.

"Huh, we're not supposed to reveal our true names to the enemy." He said to Hoteye, or rather Richard, "that's a new low even for you. Oh yeah."

"I have no interest in hiding behind a code name now that I've opened my heart to love. Prepare yourself."

With that, he sent his next attack.

Natsus fight with Cobra wasn't going too well. Cobra kept on dodging the attacks sent to him, as he could read the thoughts in Natsus mind on how he was going to attack. The only time Natsu was able to land a hit on him was by acting purely out of instinct.

But then it was revealed to them that Cobra to, was a Dragon Slayer. The Poison Dragon Slayer. But only second generation like Ciella was, in the fact that he had a Dragon Lacrima implanted in him to give him the powers he possesses.

The battle ended up causing a huge explosion, causing Lucy, Gray and Jura to locate Natsu. As Natsu sucked up the fire to gain a boost, the fight continued as they chased each other through the air, Natsu continuing to try reckless plan after reckless plan to defeat the enemy. But Cobra also gained a power boost by sucking up the poison cloud that Cubelios released. And so the fight went on, and the poison affected Natsus body, making him extremely lagged and tired. But Happy was losing altitude from keeping Natsu up in the air for so long, and was getting tired himself. They kept getting hit. But they wouldn't be able to take any more serious damage to their bodies.

But Natsus anger at Cobra claiming dragons to be extinct was what really won him the battle. As Cobra and Natsu were falling to the ground, Cobra about to deal the final blow, Natsu let out an almighty roar that was so loud and reminiscent of a dragon, that Cobras sensitive hearing was effected, making him extremely lightheaded. It was heard by everyone who was on top of Nirvana, and Ciella, who was still searching for Jura, had felt as if she had heard the roar of a dragon once more. But she knew it wasn't, there was some part of her that could tell. Cobra fell from Natsu, clutching his ears and screaming out in pain, before he hit the ground, barely managing to get up.

Happy, who had caught Natsu in time, lowered him to float above where Cobra was laid out.

"Wow, you've got a serious set of pipes on ya'" he commented.

"Yeah, I totally planned on busting out his eardrums I sure fooled him." Natsu replied, trying to convince both Happy and himself. He smirked and laughed, "I rule, right?"

"It was dumb luck and you know it." Happy revealed.

But Cobra wasn't done yet. Happy had finally fell to the ground with Natsu due to the effects of the poison. And as Nirvana was still moving, Natsus motion sickness set in.

Cobra appeared above his form, clothing ragged and a murderous glint in his eye.

"I swear I'll put an end to you. On the honour of the six demons."

"No, you're wrong. No way pal." Natsu croaked out.

"I hear it loud and clear. The bell tolling on the old generation. It's over, you're kind is done. Time for the new dragon slayers!"

Suddenly, Cobras attack was stopped as he was hit from behind. By Brain of all people.

"That's enough Cobra, you may stand down." He said calmly.

"Brain," Cobra looked behind him at his guild master, "but why? Are you mad?"

"You've performed extraordinarily well," Brains smile was maniac, "but it's time for you to rest."

What use is a false dragon slayer to me. Especially if he is beaten by one of the official guilds. You're pathetic. Those were the thoughts Cobra heard in Brains head, and his eyes widened.

"Oh I'm sorry, did you hear that?" he said patronisingly, before laughing.

Tears appeared in Cobras eyes, and a look of rage came over his face, "how dare you. You traitor."

He looked up to the purple snake who had joined him.

All I ever wanted, my only prayer, was to someday hear the voice of my one true friend.

"Cubelios." He managed to say, reaching his hand out, before collapsing to the ground.

"He's gone?" Natsu said, before trying to get up, "how could you do that to him? He was your friend."

"With the power at my disposal, I will have no problem gathering friends who will better serve me. Nirvana will make it so." Brain continued arrogantly.

"You don't make true friends with power and intimidation." Natsu told him, "all you get are puppets."

His eyes narrowed at Brain angrily.

"You shouldn't make such a fuss. After all, you're power is what I admire about you the most. It would do me god to have a friend like you."

Natsu continued to glare up at him as he kept on talking.

"Or in your terminology, as my puppet."

As the battle between Richard and Midnight continued, Richard had gained the upper hand and sent Midnight to the ground, saying something that Jura had spoken to him earlier, when Midnight was confused as to why he was losing.

Midnight tried continuing to disappear and reappear, but Richard used his Heavens gaze to see through the walls around him. And it had seemed to be working, he was making effective attacks. For now at least.

Ciella's P.O.V

I was still running through the city, I had heard it. The explosion. The roar. It sounded almost like a dragon, but deep down I knew it wasn't. So it lead me to one conclusion, it must've been a Dragon Slayer. So I was running towards that direction, towards the centre of the city. I could feel my motion sickness playing up again, but I couldn't let it hinder this mission. But I was worried, Iwa hadn't found her way back to me yet, she should've, she always manages to find me, even when I've moved position.

Turning the next corner, I gasped at what I saw. Lying in a small pile of rubble was a bundle of tattered pale cream and brown fur.

"Iwa." I breathed out, running over to the small bundle, gently lifting my partner into my arms, "hey Iwa, please be okay. Please wake up."

A small cough was heard and Iwa's eyes gently fluttered open. Yet they had a looks of fear in them.

"Hey Iwa. It's okay. It's me. What happened to you?" I said worriedly.

Her eyes fell into a small look of relief, "I'm sorry Ciel. It happened so fast. I saw him heading towards them, so I tried to go and warn them but the attack came out of nowhere. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, you don't need to apologise." I said hugging her, "just tell me who did this to you."

She sniffed, "it was that guy who was always sleeping. Midnight. I saw he was heading towards Jura and the others. He attacked me when I went to try and warn them."I looked up into the distance, where I heard the vague sounds of a fight happening.

"Don't you worry. I'll make him pay." I promised Iwa.

Third Person P.O.V

Jura, Gray and Lucy had eventually come across Brain who was dragging a weak Natsu away. It was then that Brain revealed to them Nirvanas first target. The Cait Shelter Guild Hall.

The fight had ended quite quickly, as Brain was quite easily defeated by Juras power and tactics. They were trying to get an answer out of Brain of why they were targeting Cait Shelter, but all the answer they received was Brain talking to himself.

"No, I never imagined that I would fall like this." He croaked out, "Losing a battle against a light guild. Please hear my words Midnight. You're our last remaining hope. You must not allow the six prayers to disappear. They are our only hope, of keeping him at bay."

After the, Brains eyes slowly closed, and another one of the black marks on his face disappeared, along with his prayer.

They were then found by Wendy, who was panicking at the thought of her guild being targeted. Lucy reassured her that now Brain, who was controlling Nirvana, was down for the count, Nirvana should cease to move. But Carla was still wondering why they had decided to target Cait Shelter, something they never found out.

But all Jura could hear was Brains last words. And something didn't sit right with him.

"While I sleep, I have many, dreams." Midnight spoke up, slowly getting up from where he lay, "I know you do to." He said to Richard, "and nightmares."

Richard gasped at the sight before him, and Midnight smirked to himself. That was when Richard let out a gut wrenching scream, eyes wide with extreme fear.

"Magic attacks don't hit me." Midnight continued calmly, before standing up straight, "you see?"

All of his wounds have disappeared, Richard thought to himself in panic.

Midnights red eyes narrowed in amusement, "Father's a very skilled wizard. But my power overshadows his."

Still screaming, Richards knees buckled into the ground.

My dear brother, my prayer, was to gaze upon your face, just one more time.

Richard fell flat to the ground, defeated.

"And so the fifth prayer has now disappeared." Brain said to himself as another black line on his face disappeared, "hear me Midnight. You must not fall as well. My prayer, is for your strength."

On top of the centre tower, the group was confused to find no way of controlling Nirvana, as there was no sign of a control panel or anything. So Nirvana continued to travel towards its target.

They then had a realisation that if the weapons still functioning the same, then maybe it was still programmed to fire on the Cait Shelter guild. Which means they had to find another way to stop it at once.

Natsu made a promise to Wendy that he would find a way, that he would save her friends.

Midnight only walked away from a defeated Richard, not knowing who he would bump into next, only knowing that he would defeat them. He would defeat all of them.

Ciella's P.O.V

I turned another corner, and gasped at the sight before me. Hoteye lay face down on the stone path, completely rendered unconscious. Their was only one person who had been in the area that would have been able to do this. Midnight. I had a feeling that Brain and Cobra were nearer the centre, and the explosions and rumbling has stopped, signalling the fight was over. But I had no clue who had won. I have to take down Midnight though, for what he did to Iwa and what he did to Hoteye to.

Luckily, he hadn't been gone too long as I managed to catch another unfamiliar scent still lingering. I stood back up, holding my partner in my arms still, she was sleeping now, and followed the scent to find him. But then I caught another scent. It was familiar, but was mixed with an unfamiliar scent. Midnight was heading straight for them. I had to warn her. Finding a short cut through the alleys, I spotted them in the distance. It was Erza, her bright red hair was uneasy to miss.

But standing next to her was a blue haired man, with a red tattoo over his left eye. I recognised the face from Sorcerer Weekly. But he went by the name Siegrain then. This must've been the Jellal that I'd heard about, the man who infiltrated the Council and had them fire the Etherion canon. What Erza was doing with him I had no idea, but he seemed to pose a lesser threat than Midnight, so I ran towards them.

That's when another explosion happened, on a larger scale this time.

"What was that explosion?" Erza asked.

"It was near the throne." Jellal spoke up.

"Hey, Erza!" I called out to her, and she turned to see me running towards them.

"Ciella, what are you doing here? Where are the others?" She asked.

"No time to explain." I gushed out, getting her to listen, "we're going to have company very soon."

Her eyes widened at this, but company was coming sooner than I thought as I caught the other scent right behind me.

"Father can be so selfish sometimes." The cold voice spoke up, and I turned to find Midnight standing there, as if he appeared just out of nowhere, a smirk playing on his painted purple lips, "he took a big bite out of my fun and left me with measly scraps."

Behind me I heard Erza and Jellal turn around to face him as well.

He walked towards us slowly then, "now, since you're the last of my prey," last of his prey? But did that mean? No, they couldn't be. Please don't tell me that's what that explosion was, "at least make it entertaining for me." His eyes then landed on Iwa unconscious in my arms, "so I see you were the one my little present was addressed to. At least I can hope you'll make it entertaining."

I glared at him. Oh, I would make it entertaining alright. He pissed off the wrong person by hurting Iwa.

Suddenly, an arm appeared in from of Erza and I.

"Stand back, he's mine." Jellal claimed.

"Jellal you can't." Erza whispered to him.

Midnight then stopped walking, and his eyes narrowed towards Jellal. This would be an interesting fight.

Preview

Oracion Seis Arc: Chapter 9 - The Game Comes to an End

Midnights fight against Erza, Jellal and Ciella breaks out, and it causes them a tough time. But the real question is, how can they finally stop Nirvana, before it reaches Cait Shelter. And the boys of Blue Pegasus as well as Lyon and Sherry being around a surprising come back.


	10. Chapter 10

Third Person P.O.V

At the site of the explosion, Lucy, Gray, Natsu and Happy had woken up to find themselves buried under a dome of rock. Wendy had since already left in search of Jellal, hoping that seeing as he was the one who found and originally activated Nirvana to destroy it, he would know how to destroy it now. The ones under the rubble immediately questioned the whereabouts of Jura. Digging themselves out, the found him standing atop the dome, a massive amount of iron rock pillars in front of him, his arms outstretched and breathing heavily. They immediately realised that he had risked his life to protect them.

The pillars that had been keeping the blast at bay then disappeared.

"The strength and courage you posses," Jura spoke up, turning his head slightly to face them, "your guild is a lucky one. It brings me great relief, to know you're still alive."

With that, he fell backwards, but before letting the darkness take over him, he thought to himself, Ciella, I hope you're still alive out there. Please, remain strong, and don't give up.

Ciella's P.O.V

Jellal outstretched his had towards Midnight, who only stood their with a look of smug calmness. A beam of gold light was sent, aiming straight for the man in front of us, but for some reason it missed, and Midnight hadn't even moved a single inch.

"How could I miss him at such close range?" Jellal questioned himself. He then grunted in pain, making it obvious to me that he had gotten injured somehow.

Jellal then stepped foreword, bringing his range closer.

"Please stop this right now, you're in no condition to fight him." Erza spoke up worriedly.

"I don't even know what's happened to the two of you and even I can see that." I commented, remembering his grunt of pain that had clearly been from an earlier sustained injury.

"Let me do it-" Erza began, before Jellal held a hand back out to her, silencing her, and giving her a stern look.

"Well, I'm waiting." Midnight taunted.

Jellal swung his arms back, a magic circle appearing, and several blasts of gold light headed for Midnight again.

A blast was created around Midnight who just stood there. Jellal then bent over in pain again, gasping. He lifted his head as the smoke cleared revealing Midnight still standing there, unmoving and unharmed.

His hand swiped, and a transparent red spiral lifted Jellal into the air, and threw him to the ground on the opposite side of our enemy. My eyes widened. Just who was this guy? What kind of magic was that?

"This is boring," Midnight stated in a dark voice, "you're the famous Jellal I keep hearing about?" His head turned to face Jellal who was lying on the floor in pain, and smirked, "talk about a waste of time."

I could see the expression on Erza's face, wide eyed with worry. It was clear to me then that she obviously cared for him, despite the things that I heard he had done to her, the pain he had caused her.

"Did you lose your memory and forget how to use magic to?" Midight continued tot aunt Jellal, "How pathetic."

My eyes narrowed as he began to walk towards us again, until Jellal attempted to get up.

"At least you're determined." Midnight laughed, and I saw Erza's face become thoughtful, as if remembering something, "what a nice surprise, I'm looking forward to seeing just how much pain you can endure."

I didn't even see her move, let alone take out the sword, but before I knew it Erza had lunged at Midnight, swiping her sword in front of him. He didn't even move and she missed.

"If the famous Erza Scarlet is so eager to have her turn then who am I to keep her waiting." Midnight looked down at Erza as she jumped back from him.

"No you mustn't take your chances against him he's too dangerous!" Jellal warned her, but red magic circle appeared which Erza drew another sword from and strikes against Midnight again, only to have her attack be ineffective. He swiped his hand and Erza was pushed back by the same red transparent glow that had attacked Jellal.

Wait, not even moving, and attacks have no effect on him? It couldn't be... Could it? I vaguely remember reading about it only once. That settles it, Erza is the only one who can defeat him, I have to buy he time to come up with a plan to do so, there was no guarantee she would figure it out. But I have, and I know that my magic will be entirely ineffective against him. But the last I can do is give Erza a chance to do so.

I watched as suddenly Erza's chest plate suddenly wrapped itself tight around her, restricting her from moving, and that solidified my theory.

Erza didn't give up but Re-equipped out of her armour. Before she could make any moves against him however, I came up behind and placed a hand on her shoulder before whispering in her ear.

"It's reflector magic. I believe you'll be the only one able to defeat him, as he can reflect magic attacks. I'm going to give you a chance to come up with a way to defeat him."

"No Ciella, that's too dangerous." She whispered back. I handed her Iwa, giving her no choice.

"No, I'm giving you this opportunity to study how he fights and find a weakness in his magic, I'll hold him off for as long as I can. But please place Iwa out of the way to." I rushed back, before stepping in front of her.

"Okay," she breathed, "just be careful."

"Of course I will." I stared down Midnight, who was only staring back at me, his smirk once again on his lips. Please wipe that smirk off his face for me Erza.

"I was at least hoping for the chance to fight you. I've heard a lot about the student of the Wizard Saint Jura. I'm going to enjoy seeing how long it takes to break you."

I only stayed silent, as I continued to stare him down, before attacking.

I brought my arms up in a cross in front of me, before swiping them across to the sides. "Earth Dragon Wing Attack!" As expected, he didn't even move and my attack missed. He smirked again, before swiping his arm across his chest, and I felt the force I out behind the attack hit right back into me. It knocked me to the ground, but I got straight back up again and sent another wing attack, but this time my own attack turned on me. I instinctively dodged and ran towards him, sending an Iron Rock Fist to his face, which he dodged. He dodged. He didn't stay still, he dodged. I hope you saw that Erza.

But I felt the pain hit me again, and I was forced to the ground once more, but stumbled back up again.

"You're resilient. That's good. It'll give me more time to play." I heard his voice speak up.

I glared at him, hoping that Erza would find a way to stop him soon, or I'm toast.

Deciding to see how he would handle a larger attack, I busted out one of the big guns.

"Earth Dragon Quake!" I slammed my palms into the ground, sending a wave of rubble towards Midnight. His hand only swiped out and the rocks flew away from him. I had to defer them to avoid getting hit myself. After getting out the way I jumped up quickly.

"Earth Dragon ROAR!" Once again the attack was dissipated, and the force of it flew right back at me, hitting me in the stomach. A cried as a large amount of pain flooded my back as I crashed into he building behind me. I tried to get myself back up again, but my legs gave and I fell to the floor, breathing heavily. Dammit, I wanted to put up more of a fight, but he was just too strong. I felt a force lift me into the air, before slamming me back down the ground near where Midnight was still standing. I screamed out in pain, as I felt as if a rock slide had buried me.

"You put up a fight, but it was still easy to defeat you." Midnight taunted.

I just hope that I have Erza enough time. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her re-equip, into one of her most famous armours. The Heavens Wheel Armour.

"Now I get it. You use reflector magic." She stated.

"Yes, and whatever kind of attack you throw at me I'll be able to twist and manipulate all of it. Besides giving me a flawless defence, my magic also allows me to dominate my opponents. Even light itself bends to my will."

"How could such a power truly exist?" I heard Jellal breath in question to Midnight explanation.

"Every opponent has their flaws, you are no different." Erza began angrily, "I will be your end."

Good luck, Erza Scarlet, I thought to myself, watching as she lunged at Midnight, and he said, "that's right, rush towards your doom. I can't wait to see the look on your face as I tear your body apart." That was before I blacked out. Dammit, I hate it when Lyons right. I've used up way too much Magic Energy, especially when shielding us from that blast earlier.

Third Person P.O.V

The battle between Midnight and Erza continued on.

"Now dance my swords." Erza sent a flurry of swords towards Midnight, who reflected them all back to her. She had to fend them all off, whilst Midnight taunted her about fending off her own attack. Jellal had screamed for her to get out of there, but Midnight only made Erza's armour wrapped around her once more, causing her movements to become restricted.

"That's better. Now soothe me with a lullaby of torment and agony!" The armour wrapped around her tightened and she screamed out, and Midnight only laughed and licked his lips, "nothing wets my appetite like tortured screams."

Erza threw the last sword she had in her hand to Midnight, and noticed how she dodged, just like with Ciella's attack earlier.

"Impressive, but futile," Midnight admitted, before swiping his hand across his chest, "Spiral Pain!"

Erza was caught up in the blast of what could resemble clouds, that wrapped around her and caused her to scream out in pain. She had re-equipped out of her armour, and back into a blue skirt and white shirt.

"No, Erza." Jellal breathed out.

Midnight stood over where Erza lay on the ground, "finished already?"

Jellal tried to get up, and brought himself to his knees. But Ciella continued to lie still just across from him.

"You can't die on me yet. I still wanna play. I need entertainment, until we at least reach Cait Shelter."

"What is this 'Cait Shelter?"Jellal asked from his position on the ground.

"It's our first target of course." Midnight answered.

"And what earned them that honour?"

"An excellent question."

Midnight went on to explain to Jellal about how the Nirvits had created Nirvana, but found it more dangerous than the war they fought, so they had sealed it away. The tribe were so afraid of it they agreed to watch over its burial site. The descendants that still do, make up the guild of Cait Shelter. And they were the only ones who could seal it away again.

"You'd have to be insane to let an incredible power like this go to waste. We will utilise it. We will send the world screaming down the path to sweet chaos. And we'll start by making Cait Shelter an example. The Nirvits wanted to stay neutral? We'll force them into bloody war. Nirvana will turn their hearts into the blackest pitch imaginable, and then they'll slaughter each other. Oh what a lullaby it'll be!" He exclaimed maniacally.

"You heartless monster." Jellal spoke up angrily.

Midnights insane demeanour dropped, and he walked towards him, "do me a solid and drop the goody-goody act already. It's kind of a drag." He got closer, "after all, your hearts so black mine shines next to yours. One could say, that you're the very embodiment of darkness."

Jellals eyes widened at this. He didn't understand what Midnight was talking about, "That's a lie!" He cried out.

"Be proud of yourself," Midnight told him darkly, "you forced children into slave labour, murdered your closest friends and even tried to kill sweet Erza in your mad rise for the greatest power in your existence. Do you have any idea how many innocent people you've brought sorrow upon? They've all feared you, trembled at your name, an entire ocean of tears was shed from the suffering you've caused."

Jellals head lowered, still confused. He'd done all this?

"You inspire me."

"I what?" Jellal asked.

Midnight held out his hand to him, "so why don't you join us? You are destined, to become the newest member of the Oracion Seis."

Behind them, Erza had brought healed up to her knees, and stumbled to we feet in pain. Steadying herself after almost falling again, she said to Jellal, "don't listen to him." She re-equipped, "the light inside you is brighter than ever before."

Erza, Jellal whispered in his head.

"Wow, I'm surprised you can stand." Midnight commented.

In Jellals mind, he remembered what Erza has said to him, and that hope, will guide you through the rest of your life.

Your words are the light, that gives me hope, and courage, Jellal thought.

"I get my real fight after all," Midnight said walking to stop in front of Erza, his eyes widening with a mad glint in them, "destroying you will be a treat."

Erza stood there, before readying the spear she held and pointing it at Midnight. "I swear on the sacred blade I wield, I will end this chaos, and your life."

The fight continued, Erza swiping but Midnight reflecting the attacks, claiming she could never land a hit on him, until she did by pushing him back forcefully with her palm and sending him into the wall.

"No, you hit me."

"There are two." Erza stated holding up two fingers, "two crucial weaknesses in your defence magic. Although it's true you posses the power to bend weapons or even magic attacks, you cannot use that ability to manipulate the human body. If you could you would've simply attacked my body instead of twisting my armour. Isn't that right?"

In reply to this, Midnight asked why it would matter, before manipulating the clothes on Erza to wrap around her. Erza just stood there, dropping her weapon, staring defiantly.

"I can use all those lovely clothes you wear to squeeze you until you pop. As fast or slowly as I want."

"So that's one weakness, one more." Erza made a multitude of weapons appear above Midnights head.

"Erza what are you doing? No matter how many swords you throw, you won't be able to hit him."

The weapon dropped and Midnight was sent to the ground. "While you twisted my armour earlier you dodged my sword, why didn't you bend its trajectory instead? It's because you're only able to control one space at a time. Either the space around your enemy or yourself. But not both at once, so while your bending spell is active on me, you're practically defenceless. Completely unable to deplore your reflector magic to repel an attack that's coming right for you."

Whilst Erza claimed the fight had come to an end, Midnight screamed that it's too late. That they should've let him beat them before midnight. As midnight struck, and it seemed as though Midnight became too powerful as he morphed into a terrifying creature, he sent Erza into a nightmare of her past, of her killing her friends. But as powerful as it was, and no matter how much terror he conflicted on her, she still managed to cut through the illusion. Midnight was defeated as he fell to the ground eyes wide.

"My illusion failed me. She just saw right through it?"

"Another weakness would be not knowing I'm immune to visual magic." Erza said, referring to the prosthetic eye she had to get when she was younger.

"No, I've lost, but I'm the strongest one. I'm the ultimate member of the Oracion Seis, even stronger than my father. No one could touch me, I was supposed to be the greatest wizard, that's ever lived." Midnight wailed, tears forming in his eyes.

"Someone who can mock the suffering of others so callously has a very long way to go before they can achieve greatness." Erza told him.

All I ever wanted, my prayer. My prayer was to find a quiet place and finally sleep in peace.

And with that, Midnights arm fell to the ground.

Father.

Ciella's P.O.V

I wake up with a pudding head ache. But the first thing my eyes came across was Midnight lying unconscious in the middle of the street. So Erza managed to deadest him huh? That's good. But wait, where did she and Jellal go? Did they just leave me behind? Well, thanks a lot guys. Next, I spotted Iwa over laid up against another house, starting to wake up to.

"Iwa!" I gasped out, running to my friend, "are you okay?"

She suddenly flew up laughing.

"Hahaha, I feel great, that sleep really brought my energy back."

I laughed softly at her, "well, I wish that was the case for me. I'm still beat. D you think you can fly me around for a bit? See if we can spot anyone else?"

"Sure thing Ciel!" Her paws grabbed the back of my torn up waistcoat vest, and she lifted me up into the air.

Then I saw that we had reached Cait Shelter at last, oh no. And Nirvana was about to fire. This was bad. Very bad.

I could see the power gathering, a blackish purple and white light spinning around. The magic power was so high and intense. The guild hall in the distance over the river wouldn't stand a chance. Were we too late?

With a shudder, the canon as fired. No.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something hit one of the legs, creating an explosion. The beam that had been fired passed right over the guild hall. That was close, but what had been fired?

Several more impacts were made across Nirvana, and the beam reduced into nothing. Being on the air, I wasn't affected by the shaking from the impact. I looked up overhead as a shadow passed over, and gasped.

It was Christina, but how? She got blown up.

"Wow, how is Christina back up and running?" Iwa breathed from behind me, setting me down on the roof of a building.

"I have no clue." I answered.

I suddenly heard some form of frequency in my head, and Hibikis voice.

"Do you read me? Someone, anyone respond. Please let me know that you're okay."

Erza and Wendy's voices responded, and Hibiki answered, "Erza and Wendy, good to know that you're alive and well."

I decided to alert him.

"I can hear ya loud and clear Hibiki." I told him.

"Ciella. Glad to know you're okay."

I heard master Ichiya speak up, and Erza wondering at how the magic bomber was up and running again.

"How'd you get her flying again?" Wendy asked.

"Hard work." Hibiki said, "and lots of it. For a group of wizards who barely know each other, we're pretty good at working together to get the job done. Christina lost one of its wings when it was shot down, so Lyons using his ice make magic to replace it. You'll see on the bow Sherrys combing her Marionette magic with Rens air magic to keep the damaged hull in tact. Our attack on Nirvana, was thanks to Eves snow magic."

"Thank you so much." I heard Carla's voice over the link Hibiki set up.

"I used it...and fused a couple of Christias magic bombs together. When fired, they did very little damage to Nirvana, even though...they're powerful...that took...the last of my Magic energy." Eves voice faded out, as if he had fallen unconscious.

"Eve." Hibiki breathed.

"We've gotta stay strong!" I heated Rens voice shout.

"I don't know how long I can keep this up." Sherrys strained voice came through.

"We owe you one." Erza said thankfully.

"Because of you, my guild is safe. Thank you." Wendy softly cried.

"Ok sure you can tell, everyone is running low on magic energy here right now." Hibikis voice came up again.

"Just hang in there guys, don't give up." I called out to him.

"I'm afraid we can't attack from the ship anymore. Powers too low. Jut flying this far was hard enough." I could hear the tiredness in Hibikis voice, "don't worry, we're gonna be fine. Listen up, there's one last thing." I peaked up at this, "a little bit of good news. I found what I was looking for in the Archive. I know how to stop Nirvana."

I gasped at this. He knew? He knew how we could stop it?

"Please, tell us." Erza said.

Hibiki went into explain that what we thought were legs were actually pipes sucking magic energy from the earth to power Nirvana. At each base was a Lacrima that controlled the supply of Magic energy. He believed that if each Lacrima was destroyed simultaneously it would mess up the control and force it to shut down.

"They must be destroyed at once." Hibiki continued on, "or the other five will just repair the damaged one."

"Simultaneously destroy six Lacrima?" Erza questioned.

"That sounds like quite a huge feat." I spoke up.

"How do we do that?"

"If I could I'd maintain telepathy to time out the attack. Try this, I'll give each of you a synched timer. I'm uploading it to you now."

I had a funny feeling in my head, as if something was trying to get inside it.

"But listen guys, it has to be precise."

A timer suddenly appeared in my head. We have twenty minutes? That's all?

"Twenty minutes?" Wendy questioned.

"That's when Nirvana will be fully charged and ready to fire again." Hibiki explained.

"We have to destroy all six." Erza said.

"At once." Jellal continued.

"Mehn." Ichiya breathed.

"If anyone can do it, it's you guys. I have faith in you."

"Care to wager a bet." A rough unfamiliar yet familiar sounding voice spoke up, and a sharp pain suddenly went through my head.

"Who's that?" Lyon questioned quickly.

"Who are you?!" Erza demanded.

"It's that creepy Brain guy." Wendy piped up. But wait, why did his voice sound so distorted then?

"How was he able to hijack my telepathy?" Hibiki questioned.

"I am Zero. Master of the Oracion Seis." The voice started up again, and a shiver went down my spine, "Brain is no more."

I gasped. The master? If this guy was their master, then just how powerful is he?

"I didn't even know these guys had a master." Ren spoke up.

"First of all allow me to commend you. You've fooled me. I never suspected there'd be any other wizards capable of Archive Magic apart from Brain. Now heed my word wizards of light! I am going to obliterate everything you hold dear. I've already begun by destroying three of your little friends. A Dragon Slayer. An Ice Wizard. And a Celestial Wizard." No, Natsu. Gray. Lucy. They can't be gone, "hahahahaha, and a cat."

Happy to?

"Oh no, he got Natsu and the other?" Hibiki gasped.

"What did they ever do to you?" Wendy cried out.

"You monster." I spoke up.

"Did I hear you say something about destroying Nirvanas Lacrima simultaneously? Well you can try. But I will be standing right in front of one of them. And I have no intention of leaving." So one of us will have to face this guy and bring him down in under twenty minutes? "As long as I'm here, it'll be impossible to destroy all six at once."

Suddenly, a sharp pain went through my head.

"Hibiki? Hibiki are you there?" I asked, "oh no, the connection must've been cut off."

"What do we do now?" Iwa asked.

"We continue with the plan, and hope that we can pull this off at the same time. There's a one in six chance of us running into Zero, lets hope not, I don't think I have enough magic energy to face him." I told her.

Suddenly I heard Erza's voice in my head, "is there anyone else who can help us?"

"Yes my honey," Erza was replied to with Ichiya's voice, "I'm able bodied and at your service. Although I am tied up right now."

"Master Ichiya." Hibiki breathed, and I have a sigh of relief. Hibiki obviously managed to set the telepathic link back up. That was good, "that's three."

"I'm here to. Although my magic energy is low I'm sure I can help out."

I spoke up.

"I thought I told you that you used up too much magic energy today." Lyons voice teased.

"Oh haha you can say I told you so later once we get out of this." I retorted back.

"That's four, who else?" Hibiki asked, before I heard him gasp in pain, "oh no, hey, I'm almost out of energy. We gotta hurry, you guys."

"We need at least two more people. There's gotta be someone else." Erza shouted out. "Can anyone help?"

"What happening." Wendy asked, and I saw Christina falling further, losing altitude.

"Christina's losing altitude." Carla said panicked.

With my sight, I could see the ice wing Lyon had made shatter. Oh no. My friends.

"no, I'm completely out of energy. I've failed." I heard Lyons tired voice breath through the link. Then I heard Sherrys cry.

"I can't do it...anymore. I'm sorry."

"Sherry!" Ren called out.

I then heard Lyons demanding tone, as he called on Gray to get up, and not let himself be beaten by these people. To think of their old master, Ur. Tears came to my eyes at how drained he sounded. Then Sherry spoke up about how she's always hated Lucy, that she was an air headed cry baby. But she sounded so sad when saying she thought she wouldn't care if she died, but she did care. She wanted Lucy to respond. A tear fell from my eye, and I have a sad smile.

"Lyon, Sherry." I called out softly.

I saw Christina losing altitude further. I had to help them, before they crashed. But I was needed here to. I didn't know what to do.

"Natsu." I heard Wendy breath out.

"Reaping tomcat." Carla demanded softly.

"Can you hear our voices?" Hibiki called out, "if you can, please respond."

An all too welcome voice sounded in my head, as Natsu tiredly replied, "yeah, we hear you."

"Natsu." Hibiki breathed out.

"Destroy...all six...Lacrima...at one time." Gray managed to gasp out.

I smiled, they managed to pull through. That was a relief. Wait, if there's six of them now with the addition of Natsu, Gray and Lucy, then does that mean I can possibly... I'll need to ask first.

"So who's fighting Zero?" Lucy humoured, "because we'd like another crack at him, right boys?"

"Eighteen minutes left, we gotta hurry." Happy reminded us of the time scale, "we owe it to Carla and Wendy to protect their guild.

"Guys, my telepathy is about to cut out. A while ago, I uploaded a map to each of your minds. I numbered the Lacrima, so you can find them. Everybody choose a number okay, so then split up-" but he got cut off by something, most likely Christina is getting into words shape.

"I'll take one." Natsu spoke up.

"Two." That was Gray.

"Guess I'll take three. I just hope Zero isn't there." Lucy.

"Then I'll take number four." Ichiya offered, "I can tell its closest to me by the smell of its parfum."

"You mean because you can see it on the map." Erza deadpanned.

"My honey why must you make a fool out of me."

"I can take number five." Erza continued.

"Erza." Natsu exclaimed. "Guess you're feeling better huh?"

"Yeah, it's all thanks to you guys."

"That leaves me with-"

"That leaves you with six." Erza cut Jellal off.

"Who's voice did I hear just now?" Natsu cried out.

I guess Erza doesn't want to alert Natsu to Jellals presence. Bad history and all that. That's when I decided to speak up.

"If you guys are alright with it, since you've all taken numbers, shall I go and make sure the others on Christina are alright. I'll try and soften their landing somehow."

"Yes, I think it's a good idea you do that Ciella. We've got this covered." Erza answered to me.

"Okay, good luck you guys." I told them. "Iwa quickly, before they fall!"

Iwa flew as fast as she could after the magic bomber. But it was losing altitude fast.

"Come on Iwa. Can you go any faster?" I asked my partner. We needed to hurry.

"I'm trying."

We got near the tree level, and I could see that Christina would crash not too far in front of us.

"Drop me!" I ordered.

She did so and I rolled out of the landing to stand. I acted out of pure instinct. I theorised that if could create rock from using my earth Magic, then there's a possibility I could create my own mud to. Sort of like Hoteye liquidating the ground. But I had never figured out how. Yet now I needed to in order to save my friends.

Slamming my hands on the ground and focusing every ounce of energy I had left, I shouted out off the top of my head, "EARTH DRAGON LIQUID EARTH."

It worked! A large are of the ground in from of me turned to mud, and Christina crashed down, the blow softening due to the soft ground. But in order to stop them from actually sinking down into it I needed to take it further.

"SOLIDIFY!" The mud did so, creating a steady support for the damaged wreck.

Standing up slowly, to steady myself, I walked over to the ship, and saw Ren jump down holding a very weak Sherry.

"Ciella?" He questioned.

"Yeah, it's me." I called back to him smiling.

"The others are still up there, we should get them down." He informed.

"Okay. Let's go." After placing Sherry down on the ground gently, we both jumped back up onto the ship, and Ren headed inside to collect up Eve and Hibiki. I spotted Lyon lying against the side, and headed over.

"Ciella? Is that you?" He asked as I bent down to his level.

"Yeah, it's me."

"What are you doing down here? Shouldn't you be helping the others?" He questioned.

I shook my head, "it's fine, they had six wizards apart from me. They could handle it. I just came down here to make sure you guys didn't die on me." I gave him a small tired smile, and held out my hand to help him up, putting his arm around my shoulders to steady him in the state that he was in.

"So what now?" He asked, looking up at Nirvana.

"Now, we wait."

Preview

Oracion Seis Arc: Chapter 10 - Going Home

The victory is bittersweet as new made friends and very close old friends are arrested by the magic council. The light alliance are allowed to rest for the night in Cait Shelters village, but a heart breaking revelation is about to befall Wendy, and leave her hurt. And Ciella decides that the time has come for a long awaited reunion.


	11. Chapter 11

Ciella's P.O.V

We had won. The Oracion Seis were all defeated. Zero was defeated. Nirvana was destroyed. We all just stood there, watching as Nirvana crumbled to the ground. After a long and extremely tough battle, we could finally say that it was over.

All of us there by Christina's wreckage cheered when we saw it go down.

"We won!" I shouted to Lyon, grabbing him and pulling him into a hug. I could feel him stiffen at the suddenness and pulled back, "oh, erm, sorry." I apologised awkwardly scratching the back of my head.

"No it's fine." He said giving a small chuckle.

"Ciella!" I heard a voice cry, and a bundle of fur flying into me knocked me to the floor. I winced as I felt a pain in my side. Well, I would be surprised if I didn't have a couple of cracked ribs. Iwa then sat up on my stomach, "we won Ciella!" She cheered and I laughed with her.

"Yes we did." I said, sitting up and giving my friend a hug. It was finally over.

But suddenly our good moods died down when Hibiki asked, "but how do we know the others made it out alive?"

I looked to where Nirvana had once stood. All of them. Jura. Erza. Natsu, Gray and Lucy. Wendy. Carla and Happy. Ichiya. Even Jellal and Hoteye. They were all up there when it went down. But knowing them, they wouldn't have given up. Somehow, I knew they were still around.

"I have a feeling they're all alive." I spoke up in the silence.

Sherry smiled at me, "I get that feeling to, those pesky fairies never give up."

"And we all know that Jura would've gotten himself out." Lyon agreed.

"Master Ichiya would never us down like that." Eve spoke up timidly.

"Yeah." Ren continued.

"I'm sure they all made it out." Hibiki stated with a smile.

"But I could use Earth Sense to check for definite if you want." I joked after a pause.

Lyon scoffed at this, hitting me over the back the head lightly, "yeah, like we're going to let you use anymore magic energy after saving us like that. I doubt you even have any magic energy left like the rest of us."

"Ow." I said lightly, laughing, "I was joking you know."

"Yeah, I know, but it sometimes takes a lot to get something into your thick skull." He continued on, and I stood up at that.

"You wanna say that again Ice For Brains!" I said angrily.

"You heard exactly what I said Dirtmonger."

"Here they go again." I heard an exasperated Sherry sigh. But before our fight could go any further, our injuries began to play up, and I felt a pain in my side. I heard Lyon wince as well clutching his shoulder.

"For now, I think we should get our rest before setting out to find the others." Hibiki laughed. I smiled before finding a tree nearby to rest against, and sat down leaning my back against it.

Iwa sat down beside me, giving me a knowing smirk.

"What?" I asked her.

She climbed up and whispered in my ear, "you liiiiike him." She looked over to Lyon who was sitting at his own tree across the clearing.

"Shut it you stupid cat. We're just friends." I whispered back in disbelief at her actions. Where did she get this ridiculous idea from?

"Don't deny it. You totally doooo-"

"Don't know about you Iwa, but I'm totally beat." I interrupted my partner, changing the subject.

"I'm actually alright now Ciella, thank you so much for asking." She replied sarcastically. I shook my head. This cat.

After a few hours of sleep, i woke and looked up to the sky to see the sun was about to rise. Getting up from my sitting position, I began to climb the tree I was leaning against so I would get a better view. I always loved to watch the sunrise, I suppose this was a reflex of always getting up early to watch it, despite how extremely tired I was.

I managed to get to quite a high branch and sat on it without too much trouble from my injuries, getting a clearer view from of the sky. My attention was so focused on it I didn't even hear someone coming to join me until they spoke up.

"What are you doing all the way up here?" I jumped at hearing my friends voice, looking to see Lyon standing on the branch below, holding the branch I sat on for support.

"Watching the sunrise." I told him, turning back to face the sky.

"Why do you always do that. It's always gonna be the same anyway. The sun rises, that's it."

"No," I disagreed with him, "every sunrise is different, yes. But I have a feeling this ones going to be extra special."

"If you say so." He said adeptly. He'll see. Just in a few minutes.

I was right. The sunrise that morning was special. The sky glowed such a bright crimson, and it flooded the whole sky with its light. For some reason, it reminded me of Erza's hair, and made me wonder if the others were watching this. I hoped they were, it brought a sense of hope. The world is age once more, and it forever will be.

"It's beautiful." I breathed.

"You're right, it is." Lyon spoke up, and I smirked and turned to him.

"Is this you admitting that I was right before?"

"I never said that." He quickly defended himself.

"You literally just sai-"

"Oh shut up."

We both laughed, and we were sat like that for a while, watching the sun rise higher. Until it was time to go and look for the others.

We had agreed to head to the nearest civilisation in hopes of finding them, hoping that they would've headed there as well. And that turned out to be the Cait Shelter guild hall. We were right, once we got there, we found the others waiting for us.

They told us what had happened. Natsu had faced down Zero with the help of Jellal, who had gotten Wendy to destroy the Lacrima he was assigned. And he wins against him. All the Lacrima were destroyed, and they all managed to escape in time. Jura had found Wendy and Carla and gotten them out, and Hoteye had helped out Jellal and Natsu. The others managed to find their own ways.

But that was when an army of rune knights from the newly reformed magic council, along with a captain of one of their custody enforcement units, Lahar. They had taken all the Oracion Seis members into custody, including Hoteye. Jura had promised him to keep searching for his younger brother for him, and it turns out that his brother is and old friend of Erza's. They also took Jellal, arresting him for his past crimes against the council and the world. Then they just left, leaving a heartbroken Erza.

But now here we were, at the Cait Shelter guild, where they let us recuperate and rest whilst out injuries healed. They also provided us with some new clothes. But I wasn't too sure about them.

"Ooh, this is adorable." I heard Lucy squeal as she looked at the new outfit she had on. A dark pink bikini top, with a long white and dark pink skirt with a slit up the thigh. She had a yellow choker on that had white sashes hanging off, wrapped around her back and stomach. Her hair was tied back in two braids with a pink flower at each side.

"Yeah yeah, you look cute and all. But you're not nearly as sexy as me." Sherry said as she admired the outfit she had been provided with. A red strapless tube top that had orange dots and patterns on it, and fringes at the bottom. She wore a purple skirt with white frills and some red material hanging down the front, tied up with a pale mint green sash at the top, blacK leggings underneath. On her arms were pale cream coloured sleeves that had material hanging down from them, hm giving the impression of wings.

"Everyone in the village is a member of the guild." Wendy piped up. She looked absolutely adorable in her green halter neck, open backed dress that three arrows like stripes running up and down at the top, coloured in pastel blue, green and yellow, "Cait Shelters famous for its pretty textiles and clothes."

"These clothes are pretty and all, but do I have to wear them? They're not exactly me." I piped up from behind the curtain that was behind the mirror.

"Oh just come out already Ciella." Sherry said exasperatedly.

"Fine." I groaned, before stepping out to reveal myself dressed in a dark blue coloured one-sleeved crop top, a white sash wrapped around both arm. On my bottom half was a short skirt like Sherrys, except mine was a light cream colour, and had a red sash tied off at the side. I had bandages wrapped around my waist and non-sleeved arm covering up the wounds I had gained.

My feet were also covered black sandals that wrapped around my calves up to my knees. Instead of being all over the place like usual, the top half of my hair was braided back, courtesy of Sherry.

"Oh, Ciella, you look amazing. Those clothes suit you so much." Sherry squealed.

"Really?" I asked sarcastically.

"Here come look." She guided me to the mirror to see my reflection.

"Well, at least they're my colours." I said in defeat.

"So are these like, traditional Nirvit styles?" Lucy asked Wendy.

"I never really thought of it that way before. But I guess it makes the most sense huh." Wendy replied.

Sherry turned to face her, "I still can't believe that you didn't know that everyone in this guild but you is a descendant of the Nirvit."

"Well yeah, I am the only one that joined after it was formed." Wendy reminded her.

"Come try this on Erza," Lucy turned to the red head sitting with her arms crossed, "I know how you live a costume change."

Erza looked up, before saying sadly, "yes, I suppose."

Lucy looked down sadly.

"And I'm guessing you don't know when Caut Shelter joined the league of guilds along with the others do you?" Sherry continued to ask Wendy, "I don't want to be rude, but I hadn't even heard of your guild before we were all thrown together. I know every guild can't be as popular as mine but still-"

"Sherry." I scolded, cutting her off an hitting her arm. She looked at me and shrugged and I just shook my head and rolled my eyes. I love this girl, but she can be a pain in the butt sometimes.

"Come to think of it," Lucy spoke up, "I hadn't either."

"Oh I don't know," Wendy spoke up before sweat dropping and fidgeting her fingers, "wow I didn't realise we were so obscure."

"This is all very interesting, but everyone is waiting on us." Carla reminded.

After Erza got changed, we headed outside to stand with everyone else. And as soon as Iwa caught site of me, she started laughing.

"That's right," I told her off, sarcastically, "laugh it off. Totally not killing my self esteem here."

We stood together, in front of the rest of the Cait Shelter guild, Wendy and Carla stood beside their master.

"Fairy Tail. Blue Pegasus. Lamia Scale. Not to mention Wendy and Carla. I commend your efforts in not only defeating the Oracion Seis but saving out r village from Nirvanas wrath." Their guild master spoke up, "speaking as a representative of our regional guild league, I Roubal, offer my deepest gratitude. Thank you. We are in your debt." He held a hand to his chest, bowing slightly.

"We were happy to help you! Master Roubaul." Ichiya spoke up, dropping into his weird Interpretive dance mode, and I groaned, "it was a hard won victory, against a ferocious opponent. But in the deepest and darkest depths of the spell, light shined down on us. It was the bright and warming glow of true friendship! We followed it all the way to victory!"

"Well said master!" The Trimens clapped.

"Mehn."Ichiya breathed.

"Does anyone give me the permission to punch that guy in the face?" I asked.

"Please do." Lyon encouraged me.

"Don't Ciella." Jura warned and I sighed. I just really wanted to punch him in the face because he was starting to annoy me.

"The bright and warming glowed probably coming from the spotlight he's hogging." Gray deadpanned.

"No joke." Lucy agreed, "And by the way did he even fight anyone?"

"I suppose it over now." Sherry said to us from next to me. I smiled sadly at that. There might not be a chance in a while that I'd get to work with these people again.

"You three should know, I'm proud of you." Jura said, putting his arm round my shoulders and clutching both Sherry and Lyons shoulders.

"Thank you sir." Lyon said.

"Yeah, thank you." I smiled up at my mentor.

"Hey!" Natsu shouted, his fist in the air, "we deserve a victory party!"

"Aye sir!" Happy jumped up to agree with him.

Then the weirdest thing happened that I'm really don't want to relive. But Ichiya and the Trimens burst into the bizarre routine, Ichiya holding a carrot up like a microphone. Like I said, weird.

"Party sounds great!" Gray exclaimed, and suddenly, he was shirtless.

"Please keep your clothes on!" Lucy shouted, eyes wide. Lyon laughed and he was shirtless to, again. "You to buddy!"

So I did what I do best. I punched them both in the face.

They stumbled back slightly from the force, before Lyon recovered and turned back to me.

"Hey what was that for?"

"Yeah, why'd you punch us?" Gray asked.

"If I remember correctly, during our fight wit Racer, I said, and I quote, 'Please refrain from stripping in front of me before I punch you both in the face.' I was just making good on my word." I explained with a casual shrug.

"So is Cait Shelter feeling like getting down?" Ichiya asked while the Trimens kept chanting "oh yes!" While doing their weird little dance.

Even Lucy, Gray and Natsu joins in and I couldn't help but laugh. Wendy then shouted out, but realised the rest of her guild was standing still, blank looks on their faces. Everyone immediately paused in their tracks at seeing this

A long pause overcame the atmosphere, as everyone began to question in their heads what was going on.

"I'm truly sorry." Roubaul began, "I've neglected my duty to tell you about the Nirvit people. Lease accept my sincere apology."

"Well it's not like that's going to stop us from partying!" Happy cried out. By the looks on their faces, I don't think that's what they were meaning.

"But we'll listen to whatever you might have to say." Natsu finished, he turned to Happy, "right."

"Aye, sir."

I saw Roubaul turn to face Wendy, "it's alright master," she reassured, "you don't have to tell us if you don't want to."

"It is important that I ask everyone to please listen closely to the tale I am about to tell." Roubaul turned to all of us, "first let me clear the air about something. The truth is we are not descendants of the Nirvit people."

"What?" Wendy questioned with a gasp.

"Indeed we are the Nirvits themselves." My eyes widened. These people. They were the Nirvits? The ones who created Nirvana and sealed it away? "And many yeas ago, four hundred to be exact, Nirvana was created, fashioned by my hands."

"By you?" Lyon questioned.

"I don't believe it." I heard Lucy say.

"Four hundred years ago?" Happy looked confused. We all were.

"How can this be?" I said under my breath.

"I thought I'd my dream of Nirvana was made a reality," Roubaul continued to explain, "I could end the vastly wars tearing the world apart. I would do so by reversing the morality of those whose minds were set on the destruction of others. We made our home there, and we took great joy of what we'd accomplished through peace. We were a shining beacon of light in a once shadowy world. However, despite our best intentions we could not change the fact that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Nirvana had brought light to what was once a terrible darkness, not by chasing it away but by absorbing it so to speak. The work yearns for balance and order. The light serves no purpose without the darkness. And vice versa. Light is born from darkness, and darkness is born from light. The two are forever intertwined."

"Yeah that's exactly how it played out for us." Gray said, a thoughtful look on his face.

"All the world evil, taken from those whose hearts were once consumed with it, was transferred to the peace loving Nirvit."

"It was." Wendy spoke up quietly.

"It was a nightmare." Roubaul continued, closing his eyes, "engulfed in rage and hatred, we slaughtered each other until no one was left standing."

I heard Ichiya make a sound of disbelief, I couldn't quite believe it myself. A once peaceful people consumed by the flames of war and darkness. So tragic.

"That's not quite true," Roubaul opened his eyes again, "for I am the only survivor. Then again in this particular situation the word survivor is a little misleading. In truth my body had ceased to function many years ago. What you see before you now is a projection of the man I once was."

Wendy gasped at this. I knew this must be extremely hard on her to hear. These were the people she had grown up with for the past several years.

"As punishment for my sins, I this powerless spirit have stood assembled over my creation for four hundred years. Keeping my weary eyes open for the one who at last could destroy Nirvana, and consign it to the pages of history," he then gave a small smile, "and now, my pause can be vacated for that person has been found." He finished gravely.

"No. Why didn't you tell me?" Wendy questioned.

Roubaul let out a small noise, and all around, the people of the Cait Shelter guild began to shimmer and disappear. My eyes widened at this, only imagining how heartbreaking this must be for Wendy.

"What's happening?!" She cried out fearfully, seeing those she grew up with disappear. They were her family, "Don't go!"

"You can't just leave us!" Carla called out indignantly, "Magana! Babelle!"

"Everyone's disappearing, right in front of our eyes." Hibiki said disbelievingly.

"Why are you doing this?" Wendy sobbed, tears falling from her eyes as she watched her family disappear before her eyes, "please don't go!"

"I've deceived you Wendy, for that I am deeply sorry." Roubaul apologised, "all your fellow guild members were spectres. They we're nothing but illusions."

"Are you kidding me!" Natsu shouted out.

"Illusions with their own personalities?" Lyon questioned.

"That takes powerful creation magic." Jura informed.

"That poor girl." I breathed out, looking at Wendy heartbrokenly crying out.

The illusions kept on disappearing, becoming less and less, and Roubaul spoke up again, "for many years, I lived in this deserted village alone, always keeping a watchful eye over Nirvana. Until one day a boy came to me, with a companion needing help." Wendy's eyes widened in a realisation of something, "his eyes burned with such intensity and sincerity that I simply had no choice but to take the little girl in. I had resigned myself to a solitary existence, but there she was. I filled the village with apparitions o she wouldn't be alone."

"So you created an entire guild just for Wendy?" Lucy asked, a hand over her mouth.

"No one I cared for was a real person?! How could you do something so cruel to me master?!" Wendy screamed out, her hands on her head. I feel tears welling up in my eyes at the sight. This little girl was losing everything so fast.

"Don't fret my dear. Calm down." Master Roubaul was finally the last remaining one of the guild members, "neither you nor Carla need those imaginary friends." He pointed to Wendy who stood in front of all of us, "you're surrounded by real friends who care for you." He gave off a soft chuckle, as he too started to shimmer, and Wendy's cries grew louder, "a bright future awaits you. Embrace it with open arms."

As he disappeared, Wendy ran towards him, "master!" She screamed out.

"To each and every one of you, I owe my deepest gratitude. I know I can leave Wendy and Carla in your hands."

He finally disappeared into a cloud of shimmering dust, and was blown away into the air. Wendy continued to sob, as her blue guild mark faded from her arm. She fell to her knees, shouting out for her guild master. Everyone of us stood watching the heartbreaking scene. She had lost everything, in such a short space of time, her whole family. A family, a guild that was made for her. A guild for one.

Finally, Erza came up and kneeled behind her, placing a hand into Wendy's shoulder in comfort, as the little girl sobbed.

"I know all too well," she spoke up, "the pain of losing a loved one. But you'll heal. We'll help you." Wendy looked back at her, tears falling freely from her eyes, "come with us, be a part of Fairy Tail."

Wendy had decided to take up Erza's offer, and agreed to join Fairy Tail. We were still at the Cait Shelter guild, saying our goodbyes and getting ready to leave. Fairy Tail themselves were about to go to take a ship back to Magnolia.

"Mehn. May your parfum grace my nostrils again Miss Erza. And miss Lucy." Ichiya said, still striking out his weird poses.

"Be sure to come visit us whenever you feel like it." Eve offered.

"When you do be prepared for the best night Blue Pegasus can offer." Alright, if you could stop with the flirting Hibiki that would be great.

"Give my warmest regards to Master Makarov." Jura smiled at them.

"Oh and Gray, fix that stripping habit." Lyon teased lightly.

"Like you have any room to talk ya bonehead." Gray commented back. Of course, they were both shirtless again. I was seriously getting tired of this.

"Do you guys seriously need to punch you again? Or do I need to make good on my other threat." I piped up from next to Lyon. They both sweat dropped and I felt pretty proud of myself.

"Question," Lucy appeared out of nowhere, "what do we do about those two?"

She was staring at the other side of the room where Sherry and Ren were staring each other down and blushing, Sherry with her arms crossed and Ren with a hand in his pocket.

"Well, aren't you running off with your little friends?" Sherry questioned.

"Yeah, and just so you know I'm not gonna miss you." Ren said back to her. Oh, something definitely happened between those two.

"Sherry?" Lyon questioned.

"Ren?" Eve questioned.

"They're so in looove." Happy and Iwa piped up at the same time. I laughed, but yet I had thought going through my head. Seeing what happened with Wendy, it's made me realise how important family really is. I think it's about time I-

"Are you alright Ciella? You look troubled." My thoughts were interrupted as Jura placed his hand on my shoulder.

I sighed. I'll need to ask him first. So I looked up at him.

"Yeah, but I was just wondering. With your permission, would I be able to travel back with the Fairy Tail guild to Magnolia? I've decided there's something I need to do."

"I understand. You may go."

"Thanks Jura."

With that, I said my goodbyes to the guys from Blue Pegasus, and quickly said goodbye to Lyon and Sherry for the time being. They asked where I was going, so I explained that there was someone I needed to see. I had ordered Iwa to go back to the guild with them, claiming that this was something I needed to do on my own. This was long awaited after all.

Then I caught up to the Fairy Tail wizards, who were just about to board the boat.

"Hey guys, is there any possibility that I could travel back with you? There's someone in your guild I need to see." I asked them.

"Who would you need to see from our guild?" Natsu asked suspiciously.

"Are you really that dense Natsu?" Gray deadpanned.

"Who did she tell us her brother was?" Lucy explained to him.

A look of realisation came over his face. "Oh. Ohhhhh."

"Yes, it's fine, you may come with us. I'm sure your brother would be happy to see you." Erza said, a smile on her face.

I have my own smile, and boarded the boat with them. I was worried about my motion sickness, but Wendy cast a spell on me that would prevent that for a while. It was fun seeing the antic a these guys get up to, and the whole journey they were telling me about stories of their journeys. They even told me their side of the tale of what happened on Galuna Island. Lucy also told me about gaining three new Celestial keys from this mission. Angels old zodiac spirits whose contracts with her were broken now she was locked up. Scorpio, Aries and Gemini. Hearing these stories about Fairy Tail made me smile. It was good to know that my brother was in a guild full of these kinds of people. It would be good for him.

Looking off into the distance, I sighed. Here I come Gajeel, I just hope your not angry with me. But I think you just might be. And if so, I'm sorry. But I'm coming to see you again.

Preview

Chapter 11 - Big Brother

Ciella and the others arrive in Magnolia, and after three long years, Ciella is finally reunited with her older brother. But just how will he react?


	12. Chapter 12

We had arrived in Magnolia at last, and we're making our way to the Fairy Tail guild hall in the distance. It was quite magnificent and breathtaking. Behind those doors, are a family like no other.

I was really nervous, behind those doors, was also my brother. Who I hadn't seen in three years. I wonder how he's changed. I was so lost in thought that I didn't even realise that we had made it to the front doors of the guild hall. And I looked up wide eyed. Could I do this? Would he be mad at me?

"No doubt you'll want to see your brother in private." Erza spoke up, "we'll go in and introduce Wendy and then send him out here if you want to wait outside?"

"Yeah, sure, that's fine." I said nervously.

"Alright." With that, they opened the doors and entered, announcing their return as I stood off to the side of the door, leaning against the world with my arms crossed. I instantly heard a huge ruckus inside and but my lip, lowering my head. Any minute now, he'll walk out that door. He'll walk out and see me. How will he react.

Over the loud noises, I could hear distinct heavy footsteps heading to the door, and closed my eyes to prepare myself. Here it comes.

"Alright, Flame Brain told me someone was out here to see me who are you and what do you-" he cut himself off as he gave a gasp of surprise. His voice had hardly changed, but had gotten more deeper and maturer. Braving what would happen, I opened my eyes and looked up. He had gotten much taller and muscular since I last saw him, and his unruly hair that he shared with me was much longer, longer than even mine. His red eyes, another trait we shared, held a more colder glint, like there was no light in them. The one consistent thing, was that his face and arms were still covered in the small metal studs. Three above each eye, two down each side of his nose, twi vertically under his lips, five on each ear and four on each forearm. I remember I would used to always count them to calm me down in the past. But this was now the present.

And in the present, he was looking down at me with wide surprised eyes.

"Ciella?" He whispered, "is that really you?"

I looked down again, unable to hold his gaze. "Hey," I said quietly.

A look of anger came on his face.

"Three years." He growled out, "three years you've been gone. Now you come back and all you can say is 'hey'? What's more, you can't even look me in the eye. Come on Ciella, look at me, say something."

I looked up, meeting his angry gaze with tears in my eyes, "I'm sorry Gajeel. I know you must've been mad at me for leaving, but I can explain to you why-" but I was suddenly cut off as I felt a pair of strong arms wrap themselves around me.

"I'm not angry. I'm sorry if I made it seem that way. I just needed to hear your voice. Make sure you were real."

Giving off a soft laugh, I wrapped my arms around his back, "you could've just asked if I was real. And I thought you would be angry at me for leaving you."

He sighed, before pulling back and looking at me in the eye, his large hands on my shoulders, "for a while, I was angry. I understood your reasons for leaving me. And in glad you did to be honest. I realised that I didn't want you seeing some of the things I'd done in Phantom."

"But you've left that behind now." I told him, referring to him joining Fairy Tail.

"Yeah," his hand scratched the back of his head, "but its not like I care about them or anything."

I rolled my eyes and shook my head at my brother. There was no fooling me. Then I caught something shining against the sunlight around his neck. That wasn't... Was it. I reached out and picked it up, recognising the gift I had given him long ago, the dragons head pendant.

"You kept it?" I breathed out.

Gajeel looked down, seeing what I was holding.

"Yeah," he said, as I turned it around, revealing the writing inscribed on the back. G - C. Redfox Siblings. I love you brother. "It was always a sign of hope for me. That you'd come back. That I'd find you. I never stopped looking."

Tears fell from my eyes as I hugged him again. Three years. Three long years. But now we were together again.

We had sat on the steps outside the guild hall for a while, swapping stories of our three years apart. I told him most of it. About meeting Jura in the woods after I had left. Joining Lamia Scale. My hard training with him that had helped me unlock my true potential and power as a Dragon Slayer. Some of the jobs I went on. Though I left out somethings. I didn't really want to remember that job. The memories from it gave me so many terrifying nightmares that I had locked them away, refusing to let them resurface. It was a time when I'd truly felt weak and vulnerable, as well as scarred. Then I told him about the mission with the Oracion Seis, and about how challenging it was for me as a person. For everyone. I don't think any of us will ever be quite the same with what weekend through.

In turn, he told me about the three years on his own at Phantom Lord. About how after I left, Master Jose started being harder on him, and Bohr became more ruthless and reckless. He told me about he war with Fairy Tail, and how that went down. I smiled at his words, hearing how he fought for the guild when the Masters grandson Laxus had tried to take over the guild, forcing the Wizards to fight against one another. I had heard a lot about this, it was big news what had happened, especially amongst the wizard guilds. As much as my brother doesn't care to admit it, he does care for this guild. For the people inside. He's grown to care for them. And that feeling will only continue to grow.

He also told me about passing on my message to Totomaru. I had forgotten about that, and just wished I was there to see his face. I'd always been annoyed at that guy and his stuck up attitude.

We smiled and joked with each other, just like we used to do before. And we were proud of each other, in the paths that we have come to take in our lives.

"So, I don't suppose there's any chance of convincing you to join Fairy Tail?" Gajeel asked lightly.

I only sighed, before giving a soft chuckle, "I'm afraid not," I disappointed him, "I'm sorry, but Lamia Scale has become a family to me. I can't abandon them."

"Alright. Just make sure that you come to visit."

"Alright, I promise. Every time I have to come here or pass through here on a job, I'll make sure to drop in for a visit." I promised him.

"Good." He said.

An easy silence fell over the two of us. Until I asked, "Is Juvia inside? I heard she had joined Fairy Tail as well."

"Yeah, you wanna see her?"

"Of course," I replied to him, "it would be nice to meet the other members of your guild to."

He laughed before standing and offering a hand out to me. I took and he helped me up, before leading me to the doors of the guild hall. We entered, and I witnessed the ongoing a of inside the guild. Everyone was still loudly partying, celebrating the arrival of two new members. Gajeel led me further inside, and I spotted a familiar pale face with blue hair in the distance. Except it was cut shorter now.

"Oi, rain woman!" Gajeel shouted to her, and she looked up, seeing who was calling to her, "there's someone you might want to see."

He stood to the side, letting Juvia see me standing there, and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Ciella?" She breathed, before a smile came on her face, "Ciella!" She screamed, running forward and meeting me in a hug, "Juvia is very happy to see you!" (A/N I know I'm basing this off the dub, but you can't have Juvia not talk in third person)

"I'm happy to see you to Juvia." I told her. She pulled back, looking me in the eye.

"Where have you been these past years. Juvia was sad when she learned of your disappearance. But she is happy now that you are back!" She said in a rush.

"Hey, hey, slow down. I've been with another guild Lamia Scale. I've been there for the last years." I quickly explained to her.

"Hey, Ciella, come sit with us." Gray called over to where he, and Lucy were sitting with each other.

Suddenly, Juvias look turned dark.

"Love rival." She exclaimed in a dark tone.

"Wait what?" I asked confused.

"Don't worry Juvia, I don't think that's very likely." Lucy dead panned as she guided me to sit next to her at the table.

"Plus, I'm sure she's already got another guy by the name of Lyooon." Gray teased lightly.

"You shut up Gray, or I'm serious I will punch you again." I warned him in a harsh voice.

"Who's this Lyon fella?" Gajeel suddenly piped up, appearing behind Gray, "do I need to threaten him to stay away from you?!"

"No, no. He's just a friend. Plus, Sherry's in love with him." I tried to explain.

Lucy winced before reminding, "yeah, but I don't think that's the case anymore what with that awkward exchange between her and Ren before we left." She then gave me a small smirk.

"Just. Friends." I glared back at her.

That night was a great night. I met so many new people, saw so many new faces. I had never experienced anything so wild, this guild knew how to party. We didn't usually have anything like this at Lamia Scale, it was always usually so calm apart from the occasional fight that broke out between me and Lyon. But it was refreshing. I had so much fun. I had met with Master Makarov, who had asked if I was looking to join. That was before I disappointed him by sowing my guild mark and saying that I already belonged to one. I stayed over in Magnolia for the night, but alas, my time with them came to an end in the morning. Usually I wouldn't travel by train, but I didn't want to have to walk all the way to Margaret town and keep the others wondering when I would come back for too long. So I decided to take the train anyway, despite my weakness that went by the name motion sickness.

Gajeel and the team that I had worked with had come to see me off.

"Remember your promise." Gajeel reminded me.

"Of course. Like I would forget." I told him.

"It was good working with you Ciella, you certainly are a skilled wizard. I'm sure you'll only become stronger from here." Erza commented, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I have my head a slight bow, "Thank you. It was truly an honour working with you to."

I turned to Lucy next, and she gave me a hug. I was startled, but hugged her back all the same.

"Thank you for helping us."

"You're welcome." I replied to her, and she pulled back. "Please say hi to Sherry for me." She smiled.

"I will." I gave her a small smile back.

"Don't continue to pull stupid stunts like you did back with Racer." Gray said as he ruffle my hair.

I chuckled and shook my head, "no promises."

"Alright, next time we see each other, we have to have a fight!" Natsu exclaimed pointing at me.

"I'm sure we will." I smirked, pushing his arm away, "bye Happy." I waved to the blue cat that say on Carla's head.

I then turned to Wendy, and knelt down to her level.

"Hey, I want you to do something. From one Dragon Slayer to another, can you look out for my doofus of a brother over there? I don't exactly trust Natsu to do so." I asked her.

She nodded to me with a smile, before throwing her arms around my neck, "thank you, for everything."

"Oh, I didn't do much."

"You still helped. Thank you for being there. And you did do a lot."

I smiled. This girl, I'm sure she would grow into a strong warrior one day. I'm sure of it.

Finally, the train signalled that it was about to leave. I got my ticket ready, before giving my brother one last hug.

"See you soon." I told him.

"Yeah." He whispered back, "just not too long." He pulled back, "now on you go squirt. Or you'll miss your train."

I laughed, before running onto the train and sitting down in the nearest seat, looking out of the window and waving to my friends and my brother. But as soon as the train started to move, my stomach flipped. Oh dear, looks like this was going to be a long ride.

Authors Note

Hey guys, hope you're all enjoying Ciellas story so far. Please leave reviews of what you think, it really motivates me to continue writing. Thanks, and before I go, here's the preview for the next chapter.

Preview

Chapter 12 - A Fitting Punishment

One of Ciella and Lyons fights escalates too far. And for it, they a punished as the master sees fit. But just how will they deal with it, and having to deal with each other's presence.


	13. Chapter 13

This morning was just another peaceful day at the guild. Okay, I lied. It actually wasn't peaceful. It was anything but peaceful with me and a certain ice-headed freak yelling at each other. Don't get me wrong, it's not like we don't do this all the time, but this time, well, let's just say that we took it too far this time.

I don't even know how the fight even started, I just know that Lyon was the instigator in this situation. He was al the one who mucked up. Big time. But it wasn't like I was at fault either, seeing as I only egged him on further.

"Alright then you block of ice, give it your best shot then!" I shouted at him, after he threatened to take this seriously.

"Maybe I will! Ice-Make: Eagle!" Before they could hit me I ducked to the ground. Seriously? That was his best shot? But then I froze up hearing the crash and crumbling of rock behind me. As the dust settled down from its flurrying, I looked behind me slowly and cautiously after seeing the wide eyed look on Lyons face.

In the wall of the guild hall behind me, there was a huge hole where the spell had hit, an entire chunk of bricks missing, letting the sunlight through. The rubble from the damaged wall lay in piles outside the guild hall.

At the exact same time, me and Lyon both whispered, "Oh, crap."

We stood dejectedly before Master Ooba, the old woman frowning at the both of us. Jura stood tall behind us, staying completely still after he had dragged us up here by our ears. The both of us were looking down at the floor guiltily, rubbing our site ears. My mentor really had one iron-like grip.

Finally, Master Ooba let out a sigh, "what am I going to do with the both of you?"

"He/she started it!" Be both blamed the other, pointing at one another childishly.

Oh that was totally a lie Lyon we both know that you started the fight.

"I don care who started it. But for this you'll both receive a good spinning." We gulped at that and stayed silent. Oh no. Please not the spinning, anything but the spinning, "but there is also the matter of the broken wall and your punishment."

Wasn't the spinning punishment enough? Obviously not.

"You'll both work together to fix the broken wall, and clean up." Oh, that shouldn't take too long with both our abilities, "without using magic."

Our jaws dropped at this. Without Magic? But that would take us ages. Not to mention the fact that I'd have to be in his company. But before we could even protest, master Ooba silenced us immediately.

"That is my final decision. You'll be provided with the materials necessary. But first-" she held up her finger, and I braced myself.

After being spun by the master, we were both back at the broken wall, our stomachs still feeling like they were spinning. Lyon was on the outside, picking up the rubble and placing it all in an empty wheel-barrow. Whilst I was on the inside, sweeping up the dust that had settled. And chucking any pieces of debris outside for Lyon to put in the wheel-barrow. We had been working in complete silence for the past few minutes, still fuming at each other. Until Lyon decided to break it.

"Can't believe I got roped into this." He complained after placing another piece of rubble down. I only stayed silent, continuing to sweep the floor, "fixing this dammed wall. And without using magic to. This is ridiculous, this is going to take us all day."

That was when I'd had enough of his complaining.

"Oh jut shut it Lyon. We both know you were the one who started the fight and broke the wall. But you don't see me complaining about me being the one to get dragged into this." I turned to him with an angry look in my eye, "just quite complaining. The faster we get this done the better." With that, I began sweeping again, sweeping all the dust into a dustpan and shoving it in the rubbish.

After we had both cleaned up our respective areas, we had moved onto repairing the damage, having the tools and bricks provided to us. We worked alongside each other on the outside of the guild hall, laying the bricks down. But I'd had something nagging on my mind for a while now, so I decided to speak my thoughts to the idiot beside me.

"You know, I wonder how we can keep doing this." I told him, sitting back on my knees.

"What do you mean." He asked, doing the same.

"I just keep wondering how at times we can be so civil to each other, and work well as a team. But sometimes we end up doing stupid stuff like this," I gestured to the broken wall in from of us, "always fighting with each other and getting into trouble."

There was a pause between us before Lyon spoke up again, "I have no clue, I guess it's just in our natures."

"I guess." We got back to work, slowly making progress on filling in the hole. We were getting there, repairing the damage faster that we were working together, getting the wall to being halfway completed. That's when I Ely the footsteps in the ground behind us.

"We're gonna have company." I informed Lyon.

"What did you guys do this time?" I heard Yukas voice calm out, as he Sherry and Toby came up behind us. That's probably one of the main reasons the fight escalated like it did. Normally the others would be around to calm us down, but they had left on a job a couple of days ago. And me and Lyon just finally couldn't stand the tension, and the fight broke out. Even Iwa had left with them, having been left at the guild for too long as she had found it.

"Looks like they got into big trouble to me." Iwa stated, laughing her head off.

"Oh shut it cat." I told her.

"So what did you guys actually do to get landed with repairing the wall?" Sherry asked and we turned to face them.

"Ask him." I told them, pointing at the White haired idiot beside me.

They looked to him, expecting an explanation. I heard him sigh as I went back to work.

"We got into a fight and I accidentally blew a hole in the wall." He quickly gave them what they were looking for.

"Yeah," I spoke up, "and as punishment we have to fix it without using magic."

"Ooh, that's harsh." Toby winced, "well, have fun." With that, they all walked away giving small laughs. Not snidely or anything like that. No, they were just being friends laughing at our misfortune.

It was getting later into the day, and we had managed to patch up three quarters of the wall, when I spoke up again.

"You know, I miss how we used to be."

"How we used to be?" Lyon questioned.

"Yeah, when we first met. How we would always work so well and got along so well together. How we used to have so much fun and got through so many challenges together when we went on jobs with the others. I miss that." I told him, looking up to see him looking back at me curiously.

He looked away, looking down before saying, "yeah. Me to."

I smiled sadly, "I just feel that we're fighting with each other so much, we forgot what having fun was like. We don't even go on many jobs together any more." I looked down to the ground, "I just miss what we used to be like around each other."

Looking up at the wall, Lyon sighed, "I suppose we should get this finished then."

"Yeah, we really should."

After a bit of time, we finally managed to finish the wall off, and stood back admiring our work while the sun set behind us.

"I think this punishment has given us many revelations. How about we start over?" I turned to Lyon holding my hand out to him, and he smiled at me, nodding, "Hi, I'm Ciella Redfox. Earth Dragon Slayer of Lamia Scale."

He took my hand, giving it a firm shake, "Lyon Vastia. Ice-Make Mage of Lamia Scale."

We smiled at each other, giving a small chuckle. I then looked to the wall, before looking at the tool box. Picking up a small sharp tool, I kneeled down to the bottom of the wall.

"Let's mark this occasion."

"What are you doing?" Lyon asked me, as I used the tool to inscribe something in one of the bricks in the wall.

"You'll see."

After finishing, I stood back to let Lyon see what I had written.

Ciella and Lyons wall.

Broken and Fixed in X784

Along with their friendship.

"Pretty smart." Lyon commented, a smile on his face.

"Yeah, this is the start of a new friendship." I looked back at him, a wide grin on my own face. Hopefully this will be a friendship that last forever.

Authors Note

Short chapter I know, but I needed to have the base for a newfound friendship between the two. As well as this was just a filler chapter before the beginning of the next arc. Hope you enjoyed it though. Please continue to follow, favourite and review what you think. Thank you.

themortalwizard

A.K.A

AmberBethan

Preview

Kidnapping Arc: Chapter 13 - The Unlucky Ones

A mysterious job request that's specifically for Ciella causes som memories to resurface that she'd rather forget. Forced to take Lyon along with her due to the nature of this request and its link to what happened in her past, the two of them travel to try and uncover the mystery going on in the small village of Maybelle.


	14. Chapter 14

The whole mess started out as a normal day at Lamia Scale. I had just come home from a job a couple of days ago with the others, and was relaxing at the guild hall with my sound pods in. But that all changed when Jura sat down in front of me, a grave look on his face. Taking my sound pods out, I looked up at him.

"What's up Jura?" I asked.

"There's a job request come in, asking specifically for you." As he informed me of this, he slid a slip of paper with the details of the request across the table to me. Quickly taking in the details, my eyes widened in shock. This was just like what happened about a year and a half ago. No, I can let those memories resurface. Not now, not after I had spent so much time keeping the nightmares at bay, "you don't have to take it if you don't want. We can send another Mage to investigate with the excuse that you were unavailable-"

But I cut him off by taking a deep breath and interrupting him, "no, it's fine. I'll take it. No one deserves to go through that. I'll find out whose doing this."

Jura gave off a soft sigh at my reply.

"Alright, if you insist. But please," he looked around for a second, before his eyes landed on something, or rather someone, "take Lyon with you."

"Jura, I know you mean well, but this is something I'd rather do on my own. Lyon has no idea what happened." I reminded him.

"I understand that Ciella," he interrupted me, looking into my eyes stubbornly, "If I could come along, I would. But unfortunately I have business to take care of. I want you to have someone there with you that you trust. Just in case there's a chance that you'll relapse."

Taking in what Jura was saying, I decided that he was right. The situation, this particular horrific situation could cause those memories to resurface if I wasn't careful. Sighing, I agreed to Juras terms, and he told me the details of this job request. Apparently a different client had put in a job request to Blue Pegasus, hearing that they had an Archive Magic user. So Hibiki had been investigating for the past week. We would meet him in Clover Town, just south of the village where the incident happened, where he would share with us what he had found.

We would then travel to the village, Maybelle it was called, and talk to the client. Then we would figure out what the heck was going on, and who the perpetrator was.

But I couldn't help but wonder; if Blue Pegasus was already investigating, then why did this particular client ask specifically for me. It was worth musing over why, but I would have to figure out later.

After explaining everything to me, I snatched up the job request form, and made my way over to Lyon who was sitting quietly by himself. I would've also considered taking the others, but with a request of this nature, it was better to have less people so we could remain inconspicuous. When making it to Lyons side, I lightly slapped him over the back of the head, gaining his attention.

"Come on doofus, we're going on a job." I informed him, holding up the request but not giving him the chance to read. The quicker we go, the better. I'd explain all the details on the way, that is if my stomach could decide for one day it wouldn't hate me, "so go get stuff packed for at least a week. We'll be gone for quite a while."

"And I don't suppose I get any say in this?" He remarked.

"Nope, Juras orders," I continued on, "no hurry up. The quicker we get going the better. I'll tell you the details on the way. Meet me outside the guild hall in half an hour."

Quickly turning away, I ran out the guild hall, heading for me and Sherry's apartment. Once there, I didn't even pay attention to her before immediately entering my room and packing everything I needed. It took me only about fifteen minutes before I had my suitcase packed and ready to go. Exiting my room, I turned to Sherry who was casually relaxing on the couch in the main room.

"I'll be going on a job. Don't know how long I'll be away. Possibly a week. So don't burn down the apartment whilst I'm away." I said in a rush, dragging my suitcase behind me.

"Wait, you aren't going alone are you?" She spoke up.

"No, I'll have Lyon with me. So he'll be gone to." By this time I had reached the door and was about to leave, before Sherry decided to open her mouth again.

"Oh, just you two huh?" She said suggestively. Since the Oracion Seis incident, her love for Lyon has depleted, as she had now developed a crush on Ren from Blue Pegasus.

"Oh shut up. Bye." I called back curtly. I wasn't in the mood for Sherry's antics right now. The nature of this job request was really putting me on edge, as I kept trying to prevent the memories from letting themselves resurface. It would really hinder my concentration on this job if they did.

Leaving the apartment, I sped back to the guild, where I spotted Lyon waiting outside with a large bag of his belongings. Meeting up with him, we made our way to the edge of town, paying a wagon driver to give us a lift to Hargeon, from which we would get a train to Clover Town.

We were sitting in silence on the back of the wagon, my stomach flipping, until Lyon finally spoke up.

"So mind telling me what this job request entails?"

I sighed before trying to gather my wits and pulling the request slip out of my pocket and handing it to him, all whilst explaining.

"The residents of a small village called Maybelle are getting extremely worried over a few...disturbing disappearances. There have been five cases so far over the last two weeks, of teenage girls aged between thirteen and seventeen. We've been asked to investigate by the client, who is the sister of one of the missing girls. The latest one who's went missing in fact."

"So what about these disappearances that makes them so disturbing?" Lyon asked.

"Well, that's the thing," I continued on "They've just disappeared. No trace left behind. They've all gone missing during the night, after they fell asleep. Their rooms have been left in a perfectly neat state. There's no clues to who the kidnapper is. No possessions missing which means it isn't a case of runaways. They just seemed to have gone entirely."

"I see," Lyon looked down at the request slip again, "any idea as to why they asked for you specifically?"

I shook my head at him, giving him my silent answer, before speaking up once more, "we'll be taking the train to Clover Town from Hargeon. There we'll be meeting with Hibiki from Blue Pegasus. He's been investigating for the last week as another client out in a request to them. Jura contacted him, and he gave me the details of the hotel we'll staying I tonight. That's where we'll meet him and he'll share with us what he's found. Tomorrow morning we'll all travel to Maybelle to meet with the client, and continue the investigation."

"so we'll have to put up with that playboy again? Great."

"If it means getting the job done, then yes, we'll put up with him. But I think we may need his help on this."

For some reason, being distracted by talking to him had stopped me from being too sick. This was new.

We fell into an uneasy silence again on the rest of the way to Hargeon. After arriving in the port town, we paid the driver before walking briskly to the train station. It was a quick rush to catch our train in time, the whole time, I was cringing at the amount of people the station was packed with. A lot of people seemed to be travelling to Clover Town. I could tell because of this, the memories and feelings of what happened were trying to let themselves be known. Lyon obviously noticed something because as soo as we were boarded, he immediately questioned it.

"Are you alright? You seem to have been on edge today."

We were sat across from each other in the train car, the train had not even started to move yet, "I'm fine."

I couldn't tell him. If I did then I'd remember. I'd remember everything. I wanted to keep that time locked away forever.

"You sure?"

"Yes." Was my second curt answer.

The train juddered to life and began moving, and my stomach decided it didn't want to be inside my body anymore. This is why I hated travelling by vehicle.

"I'm going to try and sleep for a while to settle my stomach," I told him quietly, laying down on the train seat, "wake me up before we reach Clover."

And so I fell into a light troubled sleep.

Third Person P.O.V

He couldn't quite understand what was up with her. But there was something strangely odd going on that he couldn't place his finger on. Lyon hadn't known her for too long, but he could still tell that she was obviously lying to him about being fine. Ever since she had informed him about the job that morning she had been acting strangely.

Thinking on what she'd been like, he doubted he'd ever seen her this way. She almost looked...vulnerable. And like there was something she was holding back. It was confusing.

For the rest of the journey, he had only stared out the window, not having time to take all the scenery in as they passed through each station. They went by one by one. Magnolia. He was surprised she didn't take the chance to see her brother. Yet he wasn't as he'd noticed how distracted she had been. Then all the other stations. Onibus. Kunugi. Oshibana.

Just before they arrived in Clover Town, he decided to wake her up.

Ciella's P.O.V

I was woken up by Lyon shaking me, telling me that we were about to arrive in Clover. I practically wanted to hug the ground once off the train, but restrained myself as the situation was currently serious. Taking out the piece of paper that Jura had written the name of the hotel on, me and Lyon navigated our way through the street of Clover Town, searching for where we'd meet Hibiki.

Finally, we found it. And upon entering, we'd found Hibiki sitting tensely on a sofa in the lobby, elbows on knees, hands clutched tight and placed under his chin, as he looked ahead, a thoughtful look on his face. For once, he wasn't dressed in his usual fancy suit, but had rather ditched the blazer, revealing his light blue open collared shirt, and black trousers. His hair looked messier than usual, and even his eyes seemed drained of their light.

He perked up slightly at seeing us arrive, and stood to greet us.

"Hey guys." He walked up to us, a hand scratching at the back of his head.

"Hey Hibiki," I greeted him, my eyes softening at the sight of him, he really want himself, "you okay? You're not looking too well."

He sighed before answering, "yeah, I'm fine. This job just been stressing me. I've been working on it for just over a week and I've failed to prevent three disappearances. I feel like I've failed this."

"I'm sure we'll figure out what's been going on together. But I think we should discuss this somewhere more private." I lowered my voice near the end, and glanced around at all the civilians that were milling about the lobby.

"Sure, follow me I'll take you to our rooms." We followed him up a few flights of stairs as he lead us to where we would be staying for the night, "I took the liberty of booking you a separate room for sleeping in Ciella. But for now, let's go into the other to discuss this job."

"Thanks Hibiki." I spoke up, as we stopped outside a plain wooden door, and he slotted the key in before opening it, allowing us inside and closing the door behind us. I took a bit of time to study the room. It was surprisingly nothing too fancy, just a couple of plain beds and closets, along with a door no doubt leading off into a bathroom and a small kitchen like area. Hibiki quickly sat down on one of the beds and me and Lyon took a seat across from him on the other.

"So what have you managed to find?" I got straight down to business.

"Nothing much," Hibiki sighed again, in deadest this time, "I've visited all the places the girls went missing. But like it had said in the request we received after the first two cases, nothing was out of place. Whoever has done this is good at hiding their tracks. But what's so perplexing about this, is that while nothing was out of place, there was one new thing left behind at each crime scene." He snapped his fingers and Archive popped up, he typed for a bit before bringing up a picture, "this was left behind every time. Albeit in an obscure place, but left behind all the same, as if they wanted it to be found."

I looked at the picture, it was a plain piece of paper with a symbol etched in black ink, and almost let out a gasp of horror. Could this be a coincidence or just some sick joke. That symbol was one a recognised very much. It was his symbol. But how could it be, he was in jail and all of his operations had been shut down. Or was this some kind of copy cat. But I froze up at the image all the same.

The three eyed snake that used to haunt my dreams.

I didn't even realise someone was calling my name until Lyon shook me out of my reverie. I gave my head a quick shake, dispelling the memories fighting against the barrier.

"What do you guys make of it?" Hibiki asked us.

Wen my voice spoke up, there was a slight shake to it, "well, it's obviously some kind of message. But for whom we don't know." I stood up and suddenly started pacing, an action that startled both the other guys, "we can assume that this isn't any sort of ransom note. So it's trying to catch someone's attention. Someone who..." My voice cut off, this couldn't be, it couldn't be after all this time, "recognises the symbol..." I finally whispered out.

Was it any coincidence that I was brought here? Or was it assumed that it would get my attention eventually. But all I knew is that I had to find those girls and get them to safety.

"I think that's everything. I haven't managed to get far with this, so I've not got much." Hibiki continued to explain dejectedly.

Lyon, seeing that I wasn't going to answer spoke up instead, "it's alright, we can continue this in the morning once we get to the town."

"Alright," Hibiki stood up, dispelling archive, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a second key, "your rooms just across the hall. We should try and leave quite early tomorrow to get a good head start on this."

I just nodded, staying silent and grabbing the key, before leaving the room and entering the one across the hall. Once the door was closed, I sighed before sliding down and leaning against the door.

Third Person P.O.V

Hibiki still stood staring at the door he'd just watched Ciella walk out. He could tell that there was something up with her. So he turned to Lyon, looking for answers.

"Ciella's behaviour seems off slightly. Do you have any idea what's up with her?"

Lyon sighed, running a hand down his face in aggravation, "I have no clue. She's been acting strange all day and I have to admit it's worrying me."

"Maybe she's just stressed about this job. It must be a strain on her considering that she fits the criteria of the abductees. We have to watch out. If she enters Maybelle, she could end up being a target." Hibiki spoke up with worry, even after all the times he's hit on her, he still considered the girl a friend.

For a second Lyon considered this. He sometimes forgets that Ciella's only sixteen, as she can either act more matured than her age, even with her childish nature. She's the right age for the kidnapper to target her, "Yes, but we both know that she can look after herself. And she'll have us there as well. She did mention Jura had asked me to come along. I think he possibly did because of that fact."

"Yeah, you're right."

But Lyon couldn't help but recall Ciella's reaction to seeing the symbol left behind at each crime scene. She had frozen up. Maybe there was more to this that connected to Ciella than what there seemed. And that made him even more worried for his friend.

Ciella's P.O.V

The cool feel of stone was on my back, but it sent shivers down my spine. The feeling was extremely uncomfortable. I had tried to move, but invisible restraints seemed to put pressure on my wrists and my ankles. Everything was pitch black and around me I could feel a terrifyingly familiar presence.

A deranged laugh then sounded out. His laugh. It was spine chilling, and I cringed at the sound. Fear flooding through my veins. Suddenly my body felt as though it was tearing itself apart. But I couldn't scream out in pain. I just lay there, frozen.

Everything went silent then. And for some reason, the silence scared me even more. Out of the silence, a small sliver began, and got louder, a symphony of hissing accompanying it. Braving myself to look, I turned my head. The darkness was broken to reveal two sickly yellow eyes, and one blood red one. They pounced at me and I closed my eyes waiting for the hit to come.

I sat up bolt right with a sudden gasp. Why were the nightmares coming back now? Was it because I saw that symbol? Did it form a crack in the wall I had kept my memories inside? I couldn't begin remembering now, not when it could hinder me. Not when other lives were in danger and there was a dependency on me and the others to save them.

Laying back again, I ran my hand down my face. It wasn't going to be easy getting back to sleep after that. I was afraid to.

We had set off early that morning after checking out and handing out keys back into the reception. It was quite a long walk, almost half an hour. The whole time I stayed silent. And the whole time I could feel Lyons lingering glances at me.

But I ignored them. As far as he should be concerned, I'm fine. I don't intend to become a burden. Hibiki had tried to make small talk with us, asking about how Lamia Scale was and how our friends were. But he soon stopped after only receiving silence from me and brief, curt answers from Lyon.

Finally, we made it to the town. The sight of which made me gulp. No matter how dead it seemed though, it was time to get this job done.

Preview

Kidnapping Arc: Chapter 14 - Revelations

As Hibiki continued to investigate around town, Ciella and Lyon meet with their client. The girl who hired them happens to be the sister of one of the kidnapped girls, and comes off as extremely worried. But Ciella think she's hiding something. The group then try and figure out the best strategy for completing the job, all the while, memories keep resurfacing for Ciella.


	15. Chapter 15

Hardly anybody was about. From what I could see, doors were all locked, and windows were barred up. What's happened had really affected these people, so much so that this village feels deserted. Pulling the request slip out of my pocket once more and took note of the directions to the clients home.

"Whilst you guys meet with your client I'll keep looking around for anymore leads." Hibiki spoke up before walking off in another direction, "we'll meet back here once we're done."

"The clients home is this way Lyon." I told the man in question before heading off in the direction given. It was a short walk until we were stood outside a small cottage, that I could imagine had once looked lively. But now the polished wood looked dull and the curtains were closed, completely shutting out the light.

Giving a small, sad sigh, I walked up and knocked on the door lightly. Stepping back, my hearing caught the sounds of shuffling footsteps before the door was opened slowly, and cautiously. Upon seeing no threat, she opened the door wider, her face still scared. The young woman before me looked broken. Her long, blonde hair was hanging limply and looked like it hadn't been brushed for a while. Her blue eyes held no brightness of life in them, and were rimmed with red, making it obvious that she had been crying. They also held a look of fear.

"H-Hello? C-can I help you?" She stuttered out in a meek voice.

"We're the Lamia Scale wizards you requested. I'm Ciella Redfox, the Mage you sent for." I gestures to Lyon standing beside me, "and this is Lyon Vastia, my partner for the time being."

"Ah, y-yes. Thank you so much for answering my request," her eyes flickered nervously to Lyon, "but I had no idea you'd be bringing someone else with you."

"I know, but due to the nature of the request I was advised to bring someone along with me." I informed her, explaining Lyons presence. Only that was just part of the reason why he was here, "may we come in."

"O-Of course. Come in. Quickly though please." She opened the door wider to let us both in, before shutting the door quickly behind us. My eyes scanned the cottage as we were lead to what was obviously the living room, leaving our luggage out in the hall. She gestured for us to sit on the small sofa, and sat down on the chair across from them, her head lowered.

"I- I'm Kami, and it was my younger sister that was taken. I trust you know m-most of the details of this job request?" I could see the tears forming in her eyes, and couldn't imagine the worry she was going through.

"Yes, we know what's been happening. But we were wondering if you could possibly tell us anymore about what happened to you're sister?" I said softly. The last thing we needed to do was to upset her by being unconcerned.

"There's not much I can tell you I'm afraid. We were both afraid at hearing about what happened to the other girls. One night, we had how to sleep as usual. But when I woke up the next morning, she was just, gone." She paused at this, taking a deep shuddering breath, "nothing was out of place, even the bed was made up. The only thing left behind...was this." She brought a folded up piece of paper out of her pocket, unfolding and sliding it across the table. As expected, it was the three eyed snake again. I sighed trying to dispel the image of last nights dream from my head, "but that's all the information I have. I know I can't be of much use," she sniffed a couple of times, and looked back up at us, the tears falling freely down her cheeks, "but please, please find Yuki and being her back to me. I just want her back safe, please."

Her hands covered her face as she began to sob. It was heart wrenching to watch that I had to turn my head away from the scene. Closing my eyes and regaining myself, I turned back.

"I promise you, we'll find your sister, and bring her home. But there's one more question I have. Did you realise there was someone else investigating?" She quickly nodded her head, "so I was just wondering, why did you ask for me specifically?"

She looked up at me, trying to compose herself, "well, I'd heard there was a Mage from Lamia Scale who was extremely good at tracking people. I- I asked around and eventually found someone who'd heard of your name. I was so desperate for someone to be able to find my sister that I called you in."

"Okay, thank you for answering that. Would it be too much for me to ask to look in your sisters room for anymore clues to her whereabouts." I asked her, not too sure if she'd merit such an act.

After a pause, she gave a brief nod, "sure. If anything can be found about her whereabouts then go ahead. Please, just find her. It's the door on the left when you go up the stairs."

"Thank you." I stood and gestured to Lyon to stay down here, before cautiously making my way upstairs. Once reaching the top I turned left as she had said. Opening the door, I stepped inside and looked around. Kami was right, there was nothing out of place. The bed pressed up against the wall nearly made. The desk tidy, the door to the closet shut tightly. But the feeling of the surroundings, the aura. It was that sense of foreboding, like something dark had been here. That presence was familiar. Extremely. I still remember that day. I can feel the hand around my mouth cutting off my screams. The several hands grabbing me and holding me down, preventing me from using magic. That laugh, that spine chilling laugh. Why were these memories surfacing now. I don't need them. I don't want them. They would only hinder my ability to think straight. I'd locked them away for a reason.

As a reflex, my body flinched as I felt a hand on my shoulder. But I relaxed as soon as I saw it was just Lyon.

"I thought I told you to stay down stairs." I told him.

"I know, but you were taking a long time so I thought I'd come check up on you. Are you alright?" He gave me a concerned look, searching my eyes for any sort of sign that I wasn't. But I turned my eyes away from him before he could see the pain behind them, so I could regain myself.

"I'm fine, it's about time we met back up Hibiki."

Lyon sighed in defeat, before agreeing with me. In my eyes, the quicker we wrap this up, the better.

Going back downstairs, I turned to Kami and giving her a slight now, "I promise you, we'll find your sister. As well as the other girls."

"Thank you so much. I-I know there wasn't any reward advertised but after my sister is home I'm willing to-" I raised my hand to cut her off and put it on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about that. Our main priority is to find those girls. Not thinking about the reward." I told her. I wasn't doing this for the reward, I was doing this to help those who needed it. And they needed it desperately. After reassuring her further, me and Lyon grabbed our luggage and left on our way to meet up with Hibiki to come up with a plan to find the girls and catch the person doing this.

Third Person P.O.V

After the two mages had left, Kami turned back to the living room and pulled out the communication Lacrima she had been provided. She quickly activated it, and in the smooth sphere, the image of a shadowy figure popped up.

"I- I did what you asked me to do. S-she's here. A- And from what I heard she has t-two accomplices with her." She managed to stutter out, the tears still falling down her face.

"Thank you Kami, for informing me of this bad bringing her here. You're information of her accomplices will be most useful to me." The deep, reverberating, sadistic voice spoke up from the Lacrima.

"Please, I-I did as you asked. Now please, return my sister to me." She pleaded with the man, only wanting her sister back home safe and sound.

"In due course of time my dear. Just let the events run their course. After I have the girl, you'll be reunited with your sister like I promised. In due course of time." Along with that last sentence, the Lacrima cracked into pieces, the shards falling to the floor, leaving Kami sitting their sobbing, worrying for her sister every second.

Ciella's P.O.V

"You know, I know you aren't fine. Please just tell me what's going on." This was the first time Lyon had spoken to me since we had left Kami's house. We had previously been making our way back to the meeting place in silence, until he decided to break it.

"Just drop it Lyon." I said quietly, but loud enough for him to hear.

His hand reached out to grab my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks and turning me to face him.

"No, I won't drop it. You've been acting strange since the beginning of this job and I want to know why. This isn't like you, and..." He sighed exasperatedly, "and it's worrying me. I just want to know what's going on with you."

Looking away from him, I closed my eyes, and whispered, "Please just leave it Lyon, I really can't tell you. It's too painful. Please try to understand that."

Sighing in defeat, he let my shoulder go, "alright, I understand. But just so you know, if you ever need to talk, I'm here for you."

Looking up at him, I couldn't help but let the sad smile come up on my face, "thanks Lyon. You're a good friend." There was an awkward pause between the two of us, and this time I was the one to break the tension, "let's go find Hibiki yeah?"

"Yeah, we should go."

So we walked off again, heading to the edge of town. Once we'd made it close enough, we saw Hibiki in the distance waiting for us. Once he had spotted us, he immediately walked over to us.

"Any luck?" He asked, referring to our meeting with the client.

"No. All we got was the same as ever. The bedroom was untouched, the only thing left behind being a slip of paper with that...symbol, on it. Nothing else." I informed him.

Breathing out, he gestured to the inn that was nearby, "we might want to drop our luggage off in the inn, before we continue on."

"That's probably the best idea." Lyon agreed, and we headed to the inn, renting out two rooms again, and dropping our luggage off before I joined the boys in their room again.

"So, what's our best course of action to take now?" Hibiki asked.

"Well, our main priority remains finding these girls and getting them to safety, after that we can apprehend whoever is doing this." I spoke up. I only wanted to get those girls out of there. They didn't deserve to go through the same pain.

"Ciella's right. That means the first plan of action we should carry out is locating them. Then once we find them, we can form a plan to get them out, as well as apprehend anyone else who is inclined in these kidnappings." Lyon continued on, "Ciella, do you think you could-"

I interrupted him before he'd even finished, "yes, I've already thought of that. But first we'll have to go out into the forest. The bare earth will give me a better connection to it."

"Am I missing something here?" Hibiki asked us. That's right, he didn't know about that power.

"I can use a technique called Earth Sense to try and locate the girls. It's something that helps me feel enhanced vibrations and signatures through contact with the Earth. If the girls are moving about enough, which hopefully they are, then I should be able to," I stood up then, and began pacing. A habit of seemed to acquire when nervous, "but there's a problem. The people in the village may give some interference. Hopefully the kidnapper has taken them to quite an obscure location, so that I'd be able to locate them with ease."

"In sure you'll be able to find them." Lyon spoke up encouragingly.

"Alright then, I suppose we should go." Hibiki stood up, and together, we left the inn and headed towards the forest, moving out the way of the stone paths placed down over the soil of the ground. Once in a clear patch of bare earth, we stopped and I immediately bent down to my knees, and placed both palms on the floor, focusing my energy into the earth. I could feel the faint vibrations of the village residents, through the stone paths. I tried widening my area, but nothing came up. It wasn't like anything that I had felt when feeling no vibrations at all. No, this was a complete blankness. White and empty. There was something interfering with my magic.

I grunted as I pulled my hands off the earth.

"No use." I told the boys, "in getting nothing, almost like there's something interfering with my magic. It's completely blank underneath the whole forest that's bordering the village. I can't sense anything at all."

"It's alright," Lyon reassured, "you tried your best." But it wasn't alright. Because of me failing, those girls were stuck there for longer, "We need to come up with a new plan. I suggest searching the forest. It's not a coincidence that that's the area that's being blocked from your magic."

"No," I spoke up, disagreeing with Lyons plan, "searching the whole forest would take too long, a couple of days at least. And splitting up isn't an option either. No, we need to think of something else."

We stood in the forest in silence, trying to figure out a way to solve this, and rescue the girls. Then it clicked. If we ant find the kidnapper ourselves, then the only option is to draw them out. The be perfectly honest, this option terrified me. Knowing that mark, knowing who it belonged to. But I reassured myself that it couldn't be him. He was locked away for the atrocious crimes he's committed. No, he was gone and WA never coming back. That's what made me decide on this idea, that I'd be able to carry it out. It was risky, and it would risk my safety. But isn't that what I do anyway? I'm always doing it, risking my safety. But that means Lyon will be tough to convince to go along with it. Yet right now, at this desperate time, I concluded that it was the only option we had at the moment.

"I know what we have to do."

"You can't be serious about this. No, it's too dangerous." We were back at the inn, where I had just explained my idea to Lyon and Hibiki. As suspected, Lyon did not approve, "what are you thinking Ciella? No, there has to be another way."

"But there isn't Lyon," I finally snapped, "this is our only option right at this point. If we can't find this kidnapper, we have to draw them out ourselves. If that means offering me up as bait, then I'm willing to do it."

Shaking his head with an angry sigh, he spoke up again, "you know what I told you about risking your life. And you know what Jura would say to."

I looked away from him, he would really bring up Jura at a time like this. That was a low blow, "right now, I'm choosing to ignore those factors," looking back up at him angrily, I continued on, "but right now, all I care about is completing this job and saving those girls. I'm willing to risk my life if it means saving them. No matter what you say, I have made up my mind already, and I am going through with this."

All he did was run his hand over his face in irritation, giving a sigh, "alright, but I still don't approve."

"Don't worry," I reassured him, "you and Hibiki will be in the other room, ready to help me when the time comes. I know you won't fail me."

"It's not exactly a reassuring thought that you'll be alone in there though."

Turning my back to him, I just closed my eyes, "I know, but I'm willing to put my trust in you guys. I have always trusted you."

The tensions were still running high, and Lyon was still sceptical about my plan, but had accepted the fact that it was our only course of action. He eventually put his faith in me, like I had him. We spent the rest of the early afternoon, going over every single detail in our plan. Everything has to be pinpointed, so it was foolproof. We didn't want to take too many risks. It was hard to figure everything out exactly, but we managed. With everyone's input, we formed quite a solid plan to carry out.

But still, with everything I had been feeling that day. Like someone was watching me. Like there was a familiar presence nearby. That foreboding feeling that made me seem to feel everything I had felt in that time a year and a half ago. The thing that scared me the most was the fact that these memories that I had locked away, were managing to resurface and show their ugly face again. That was what made me worry. That maybe something was going to happen. Something extremely terrifying.

Preview

Kidnapping Arc: Chapter 15 - This Familiar Face

As their plan is enacted out, Hibiki is confident that everything will go to plan. But the fear settles into Ciella, when the arrival of a very familiar face from her past causes her to lose sight of what she has to do, and the plan seems to fall apart.


End file.
